
Bonk JU3 O Y 



COHOaiGHT DEPOSm 



BULLETIN OF THE 

Service Citizens of Delaware 

VOL. I NUMBER 3 



general report on 

School buildings and Grounds 

of delaware 



OCTOBER 15, 1919 



Application made for entrance at the post ofSce of Newark, Delaware, as second-class matter 
under Act of Congress of Julj' 16, 1894. 



General Report 

ON School buildings and Grounds 

OF Delaware 

1919 



GEORGE D. STRAYER 

Professor of Educational Administration 
Teachers' College, Columbia University 

N. L. ENGELHARDT 

Associate Professor of Educational Administration 
Teachers- College, Columbia University 

F. W. HART 

Sometime Associate in 

The Department of Educational Administration 

Teachers' College. Columbia University 



1919 

Published by the 

SERVICE CITIZENS OF DELAWARE 

Public Library Building 

Wilmington, Delaware 



LE3 2,/ 
,IJ3|S7 



Copyright, 1919 



Service Citizens oe Dei^aware 



OCT 28 1919 



«3 



CONTENTS 



PART I 

page 
I How Delaware Houses Her School Children 3 

II School Buildings of Delaware of More Than Two 

' Rooms, Except Special Districts 25 

III Representative One-Room Buildings — New Castle 

County 69 

IV Representative Two-Room Buildings — New Castle 

County 85 

V Representative One-Room Buildings — Kent County . . 97 

VI Representative Two-Room Buildings — Kent County . . 112 

VII Representative One-Room Buildings — Sussex County. . 121 

VIII Representative Two-Room Buildings — Sussex County. . 143 

IX Representative School Buildings for Colored Children, 

New Castle County 153 

X Representative School Buildings for Colored Children, 

Kent County 169 

XI Representative School Buildings for Colored Children, 

Sussex County 181 

PART II 
I Measurement of the School Buildings of Delaware .... 

Tables I to XXI ....:.' 195 



PREFACE 

All real progress must rest upon a solid foundation of fact. 
This is just as true in education as in business. Educationalists in 
the past have -been too prone to follow theories, irrespective of the 
actual local conditions and needs. 

In August we published a report on the physical condition of 
the following schools : Alexis I. du Pont, Mt. Pleasant, New Castle, 
Newark, Middletown, Smyrna, Dover, Caesar Rodney, Harrington, 
Milford, Seaford, Blades, Laurel, Georgetown and Lewes. The 
report was made by Dr. George D. Strayer, Professor of Educational 
Administration, Teachers' College, Columbia University, and Pro- 
fessor N. L. Engelhardt, Associate Professor of Educational Admin- 
istration, Teachers' College, Columbia University. They are recog- 
nized experts in their own field. In making the survey and writing 
the report they had no motive or purpose other than to give an accu- 
rate description of conditions as they found them in Delaware. 

This volume has been prepared by Dr. Strayer and Dr. Engel- 
hardt in exactly the same way as the former one. It is an account of 
the majority of our schools in Delaware, with accurate descriptions 
and photographs of typical instances. Both of these reports are in 
the possession of the State Board of Education, and they have also 
been widely distributed throughout the State. 

The first impression the reader obtains is one of discourage- 
ment. Conditions are undoubtedly bad, but the people of Delaware 
today are anxious that things which are wrong should be righted 
as quickly as possible. If there were no prospect of improving our 
educational conditions, it would be a cruel humiliation to publish 
such a record as this. Happily we are in the position of being able 
not only to make the bad good and the good better in the matter 
of the physical equipment of our schools, but all over the State the 
best citizens are anxious that these things should be done and done 
at once. The cost to the taxpayer is not prohibitive. Generous 
assistance is also available from the P. S. duPont Fund, which is 



being administered by the Delaware School Auxiliary Association. 
In undertaking a very thorough re-building program we are not 
doing anything unusual. Indeed, we are doing only what other states 
have been doing for some time past, or are engaged in doing at 
present. 

The children of Delaware are its richest assets. In a democracy 
all the real values are human values. The vital factor of progress 
is the quality of its citizenship. It is almost impossible to get good 
teachers or first-class teaching in buildings which are hopelessly 
out of date, inadequate, insanitary, and detrimental to the health of 
the pupils. Money spent on education and on educational equipment 
is the soundest investment a state, a county, or a special district 
can make for its own financial, social and moral future. We are 
therefore publishing this report in the firm belief that it will be 
received with gratitude. In it there is pictured one of the diseases 
of our social body, but we are not disheartened because we also 
know that the remedy is available. Delawareans have shown them- 
selves especially patriotic and progressive all through the desperate 
days of the war, and the same spirit will guide them forward in pro- 
viding for their own immediate needs as the new era dawns. 



Part I 

How Delaware Houses Her 
School Children 



chapter i 

how delaware houses her school 
Children 

A DESCRIPTION of the school building situation in Delaware 
can be made clear to the reader only by an analysis which 
will bring into relief the several more important elements 
which go to make up an ideal school plant. 

For this reason we shall discuss (1) School grounds; (2) The 
type of school buildings; (3) The facilities which are provided for 
the health and comfort of the children and the maintenance of the 
school program; (4) The class rooms, including a discussion of their 
construction, lighting and the equipment for school work which is 
found in them; and (5) The special rooms which permit of a proper 
program for play, community use, industrial arts, household arts 
and for the work of administrative officers. 

In every case, the discussion will present the situation in Dela- 
ware as compared with the best type of facilities now provided in 
the more progressive communities of the United States. The oppor- 
tunity which Delaware has, by reason of the two-million-dollar fund 
made available to aid in the construction of new buildings, can be 
thought of as significant only as Delaware provides school facilities 
for her children equal to the best to be found in any part of the 
nation. 

SCHOOL GROUNDS 

Any discussion of school grounds must take into consideration 
the location of school buildings with respect to their accessibility and 
environment, the size of the site upon which the building is placed 
and the suitability of the particular area used for the purpose for 
which it has been set aside. 



(Note: The descriptive treatment given in this section is based 
upon a careful survey of school grounds, buildings and equipment 
throughout the State. Every school house was visited and the details 
recorded on a score card. This detailed scoring, together with a discus- 
sion of the standards which were used, appears in Part Two.) 

B 



It is difficult to express adequately the failure upon the part of 
local Boards of Education to provide school grounds without being 
charged by some one with failure to recognize the adequacy of the 
provision which has been made in a few localities. If one generalizes 
concerning the whole State, he is compelled to record the fact that 
school grounds have been provided only in terms of a space big 
«ettough to accommodate the school building, the fuel house and the 
toilets. 

The typical school site in Delaware is a piece of ground, tri- 
angular or rectangular in form, with an area of less than half an 
acre, in the angle of the crossroads, on a piece of ground ordinarily 
not considered suitable for cultivation and not infrequently so low 
as to make it difficult or impossible of proper drainage. In a great 
many cases this little plot of ground is either in a densely wooded 
section or on the edge of a forest or swamp. 

In the more progressive communities throughout the United 
States the necessity for providing space enough on the school 
grounds for play has long been recognized. The standard school 
site for a one tO' four teacher school should include a minimum of 
four acres of land, at least three and one-half acres of which is free 
from buildings, trees or other obstacles which would interfere with 
the development of a well-equipped playground. Rural school 
children need, even more than do' the children of our urban commu- 
nities, an opportunity to learn to play. One of the most pitiful sights 
to be seen in the rural schools of Delaware is a group of children, 
during school intermissions, standing around in the yard with no 
opportunity for play and apparently with no appreciation or under- 
standing of the games in which children find their most worthwhile 
recreation. Whether one considers the problem from the standpoint 
of the physical welfare of children or from the standpoint of their 
social and moral development, well-organized play must be consid- 
ered as significant as the study of arithmetic or the learning to read. 

It is a pleasure to record the fact that in a few instances play- 
ground space has been provided and that there is evidence that this 
space has been used. At the same time, it is necessary to call atten- 
tion to the fact that practically no play apparatus for the smaller 
children has been installed. Children of the lower grades should 
have see-saws, swings, giant strides, sa,nd piles, slides and the like, 
as well as space for ring games, basketball and other group activities. 



For the older children, sufficient space for regular baseball for the 
boys and for tennis and outdoor-indoor baseball for the girls has 
been provided by communities in other states, where they believe 
that an investment in the physical and social well-being of children 
pays. 

For schools having more than four teachers, and especially for 
the communities which maintain a high school, a minimum of ten 
acres should be provided in the site. Where children of the element- 
ary and high schools are brought together on one site, it is essential 
that larger space be provided in order that all may have an oppor- 
tunity for play, organized in groups determined by the ages of the 
children. At Middletown, Harrington, Greenwood, the Alex I. Du 
Pont School, and in lesser degree in a few of the other communities, 
this standard has been partially met. 

It is noteworthy^ that the communities which now have under 
consideration the building of new school buildings (Claymont, New- 
ark, Middletown, Dover, Smyrna-Clayton, Laurel, Lewes, Richard- 
son Park, Seaford) are all planning to secure a site of at least ten 
acres. In some of these communities the site now under considera- 
tion contains twelve or more acres. For both the rural school and 
for the larger community the play space will be available for com- 
munity use as well as for the school. The modern conception of the 
function of public education requires that plans for the development 
of school property recognize the necessity for providing opportunity 
for recreation for the youth and adults of the community as well as 
for the children enrolled in the school. 

Wherever agriculture is included in the curriculum of the school 
a small part of the school site should be available for demonstration 
purposes. There are in the United States today rural schools which 
have had a most marked effect upon the productivity of the farms 
in their neighborhood through the experimentation and demonstra- 
tion which have been undertaken on the school grounds and on the 
home farms. In one instance in an adjoining state an increase of 
thirty per cent, in the yield of potatoes was brought to pass solely by 
the experiments undertaken, in the selection of seed and in the culti- 
vation of this crop, by the agricultural department of the high school. 
When the education provided deals directly with the most important 
occupation engaged in by the fathers and mothers of the children, it 
has the double advantage of securing generous support from the 



local community and of educating the children with respect to the 
opportunities for advancement along the lines of work in which 
they ought normally to engage. Education ought not to seek to train 
all children for city life. In Delaware, for most children, the greatest 
opportunity is to be found in an improved and more profitable culti- 
vation of the soil. 

When one has in mind the use of the site suggested above he 
recognizes the necessity for picking out the best piece of land in 
the community and not an area which is not suited for any other 
purpose. 

School grounds, if they are to be used, must be capable of rapid 
drainage. The site of the school should be located with reference 
to improved roads. Other things being equal, the school building 
should be as near as possible to the center of the attendance district, 
Where the better roads intersect at a point some distance from this 
central locality, this road intersection, rather than mere centrality, 
should determine the location of the school building. 

Every school building should have a flagpole placed in front 
of the building and high enough to float the flag above the highest 
point on the building. Many of the flagpoles in Delaware were placed 
some years ago and are today without halyards and cannot, there- 
fore, be used. Forty-two per cent, of the school sites in Delaware 
are today without a flagpole. 

It is assumed in this discussion of the school site that in a 
modern school building water supply, toilet facilities and fuel storage 
will be provided in the building itself. 

TYPE OF SCHOOL BUILDING 

If an adequate site has been provided the next problem which 
confronts the community is the type of building which is to be con- 
structed and its placement upon the site. The materials used, the 
height of the building, the foundation and walls, the entrances, corri- 
dors and basement all in some measure contribute to the develop- 
ment of an ideal school building. As has already been suggested, the 
building should be so placed upon the grounds as to permit of a 
maximum use of the site for play and for school gardens. It is also 
advisable to put the building far enough back from the street or 
much-traveled road so as not to have the noises interfere with the 
work going on in the class room. The building should, of course, be 



placed SO' as to appear well in the neighborhood. A good school 
building ought to be the most attractive public building in any com- 
munity. Where there is a possibility of the school growing larger, 
either on account of the growth of the community or because of the 
consolidation of other schools, it will be necessary as well to provide 
for extensions to the building when locating it on the site. 

Even in the oiie-teacher school building the direction from 
which the light enters the class rooms should determine the facing of 
the building. In many cases in Delaware school rooms were found in 
which the main source of light was from the north. In this latitude 
light entering the class room should come from the southeast, east, 
southwest or west rather than directly from the north or south. 

The typical school building in Delaware is a most unattractive, 
store-box type of structure, with windows located at regular inter- 
vals on two or three sides, with the entrance on the fourth side. In 
almost no case is there 'any evidence of any attempt to make the 
school building attractive architecturally. Even the one-teacher 
school should compare most favorably with the very best type of 
cottage or dwelling house in the community in which it is placed. It 
should be an example of good taste and of beauty rather than an 
eye-sore which is hidden on a by-road. 

Larger school buildings have been successfully planned and are 
most attractive when built not on the single rectangular plan, but 
rather on the T E or U outline. Buildings con- 
structed with this general contour permit, as well, of additions with- 
out interfering with the structure already built. No building that 
has six or fewer class rooms should be more than one story in height. 
There is absolutely no excuse in the villages of Delaware for the 
two to four class-room buildings two stories in height. It is sHghtly 
cheaper to build a two-story structure, but the use to which the build- 
ing is put and the safety of the children who' are housed in it demand 
the one-story structure. This is especially true in the communities 
in which nO' adequate fire protection is available. In the larger build- 
ings, where on account of economy in building or lack of space over 
which to spread the larger number of class rooms it is necessary to 
build a two-story building, the plans must always include fireproof 
construction if the building is to be considered acceptable from the 
standpoint of fire risk. 

School buildings in Delaware are commonly of wood frame con- 



struction. Thirty per cent, of the one to four teacher schools are 
of the one-room box type, without vestibule, requiring that this room 
be utilized as storage place for children's wraps, for the fuel and 
even for the pump, as well as for the remainder of the school equip- 
ment. It was surprising to find that in a large number of instances 
the one-room buildings were mounted on brick, concrete block or 
even wooden post piers, with spaces between the piers open so that 
the floors of the school room would of necessity be extremely difficult 
to heat in the winter months. In other instances these open spaces 
between the piers had been partially filled in with boards, providing 
only meager protection against the winter winds. In cases where the 
floors of these buildings were warped and not closely fitted together, 
this type of foundation allowed the dust to be blown into the school 
room, while even in some instances weeds were growing through the 
cracks. 

In many instances the roof, sadly in need of repair, had per- 
mitted enough water to enter the building to damage the plaster, 
even to the point of having a large part of it fall off the ceiling and 
off the walls. In some cases a leaky roof resulted in a mouldy 
interior totally unfit for school purposes. Floors were badly damaged, 
books were moulded and school furniture discolored and covered 
with dirt on account of the failure to provide adequate protection 
against the rain. 

In cases where vestibules were provided they frequently were 
without equipment, except a few nails hammered in their wooden 
walls for the hanging of children's wraps ; while in other instances 
the studding had not even been covered, so that the vestibule had 
the appearance of a barn instead of a room in a schoolhouse. 

It has long been recognized for any type of school that a good 
school building must provide facilities for some work in the house- 
hold arts and in manual training, and that indoor space other than 
the class room for play and for community use is essential. If 
children in rural communities are to have as adequate provision 
made for their education as have their more fortunate brothers and 
sisters of the urban communities, then there can be nO' such thing as 
a one-room school. Rural school children have a right to a class 
room that is well equipped. They also should have provided for 
them a space off one end of the class room in which there is at least 
an oil stove, a sink, table and chairs, a cupboard, cooking utensils 



and dishes. This room will be used every day to supplement with 
hot cocoa or soup the cold lunches which the children bring from 
home. A capable teacher on certain occasions will use it for demon- 
strations in cooking, canning and the like. The community will use 
this space when gatherings are held in the evening, or on special 
occasions, for the preparation of refreshments which are served to 
those present. 

It is quite as important that space be provided, preferably off the 
other end of the class room and under the control of the teacher, in 
which at least one carpenter's bench, a grindstone, a harness horse, a 
cupboard with ordinary carpenter's tools, a long table for agricul- 
tural experiments and a cobbler's bench are installed. 

In the one to four teacher schools of Delaware no provision has 
been made for any work in manual training, agriculture or the home- 
making arts, although a majority of the children who attend these 
schools never have any opportunity beyond the education which is 
provided in them. A good plan for the one to four teacher school 
will make it possible, by erecting partitions of folding doors, to open 
a maximum of space into one room' for community meetings. The 
plan for the one to four teacher school building should, as well, 
include at least an alcove for books other than the textbooks which 
children have in their desks. In this library space there should be 
provided a daily paper, a weekly magazine of current events, a fa^m 
journal, a children's magazine and one of the better of the monthly 
magazines. In addition to this current literature, standard reference 
books, works of history, biography, science, fiction and State and 
National governmental bulletins and reports should be made avail- 
able. 

If children are to be properly cared for and freed from the 
contaminating influence of the outhouses now found everywhere on 
the grounds around the smaller school buildings, toilet rooms on 
the same floor as the class room or class rooms, with sewer connec- 
tions, sewage disposal or chemical toilet tank should be installed. 

In these smaller school buildings a play space, as well as a com- 
partment for the heating plant, can be provided by excavating a 
basement, the floor of which should not be more than three and a 
half feet below grade. This room can, as well, be used for com- 
munity purposes even while the school is in session. 

In the larger school buildings an auditorium and a gymnasium 



are commonly provided in more progressive communities throughout 
the country. Where it is thought desirable tO' minimize the expense, 
it is possible to provide a combination of auditorium and gymna- 
sium, although neither will be as satisfactory as where these rooms 
are built separately. In these larger buildings the equipment for 
manual training and for the home-making arts will, of course,, be 
more extensive on account of the greater number of children to be 
instructed and because of the special teachers who will be employed 
for this purpose. 

Even in the one-teacher school a space should be provided for 
the teacher outside of the class room. This room will be used for 
the storage of books and supplies, for the school records, for the use 
of school officials when they come to the school building to consult 
the teacher or to hold their meetings, for the work of the attendance 
officer, for the supervisor and for the visiting nurse, who may wish 
to make careful physical examinations in order to discover defects 
of hearing, sight and the like. 

In the larger buildings more than one room for the purposes 
enumerated above will, of course, have to be provided. It is also 
to the advantage of teacher and pupils to have the school library 
within the limits of the school building itself so that it will be readily 
accessible when needed. 

The types of building proposed will cost more than has hereto- 
fore been expended on school buildings commonly found in the 
State of Delaware. If progress in providing school facilities in Dela- 
ware keeps step with the developments in other states, the number 
of one-teacher schools will be diminished very rapidly on account of 
the consolidation which is effected. There may remain a verv few 
one-teacher schools, but even in these remote communities adequate 
facilities should be provided even though the cost be greater, and 
unusually capable teachers should be provided for them, even though 
it may be necessary to pay more salary than is ordinarily paid to 
those who teach in the towns and cities of the State. Doubtless, the 
people of the State will find in the smaller expense of the larger 
school, per pupil or per teacher, both for original cost and for main- 
tenance, one incentive to rapid consolidation. 



10 



PROVISIONS FOR HEALTH AND COMFORT 
OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 

In fortv-six per cent, of the one to four teacher schools now 
existing in the State of Delaware, no other provision has been made 
for heating and ventilating the school room than through the agency 
of the old-fashioned tvpe of wood or coal stove. These stoves are 
frequently worn out, cracked and battered to such a degree that 
they should long ago have been discarded. They provide an excess 
of heat for the children seated in their immediate vicinity. Instances 
were found where the children's seats were within twelve inches of 
the fire bowl of the stove. The children sitting on the fringe of the 
room farthest from the stove receive a minimum of heat, while 
those nearest to the stove must be most uncomfortable. 

In fifty-four per cent, of the one to four teacher schools a 
jacketed, improved type of heater, with provision for fresh air in- 
take, has been installed. In most cases these are the very acceptable 
Waterbury heaters. For the one-room school this heater furnishes a 
fairly satisfactory type of heating and ventilating system, and is a 
very great improvement over the old type of stove. If the one to 
four teacher school is enlarged to include the facilities discussed 
above, this improved type of heater will not be large enough to heat 
the building. Two or three of these heaters might, however, be 
installed in such fashion as to satisfactorily heat the larger type of 
building. In the more modern type of school these heaters are always 
placed either in a basement or in a special space provided for them 
outside of- the class room. 

When new school buildings of the one to four teacher type are 
erected, a fairly satisfactory heating plant can be provided by install- 
ing a hot-air furnace in the basement, with . ducts leading to each 
class room or other space provided for school or community use. 

Even in some of the school buildings having from four to six 
rooms the old-fashioned stove was found as the sole means of heat- 
ing the class rooms. This provides as many sources of fire danger 
and of dirt as there are individual stoves, and cannot be too seriously 
condemned. 

In the larger school buildings, heating by steam will ordinarily 
be found most satisfactory, and an adequate system of heating and 
ventilating can be provided by bringing air into the building by 
means of a stack that reaches above the highest point of the build- 

11 



ing, through an air chamber in the basement in which the air passes 
over steam coils and is forced by a fan through ducts which carry it 
to each class room. From each of these class rooms a ventiduct, 
taking the foul air from the floor level of the class room, carries 
it to the roof or to an air chamber immediately under the roof. In 
order to get a maximum of ventilation, it is necessary to supply a 
steam coil or other source of heat in the ventiducts or to install a 
fan in the air chamber in the attic, which has the efifect of exhaust- 
ing the foul air from the class rooms. When such a system of heat- 
ing and ventilating is installed, it is customary to place radiators in 
the class rooms, both for the sake of supplementing the heat supplied 
by the air which is forced into the class room and for the sake of 
furnishing all of the heat that is necessary when the building is not 
in use. In the absence of forced ventilation, such as has been sug- 
gested, it is possible to heat the room with radiators placed in the 
room and to provide ventiducts for the removal of foul air, heated 
with steam coils, in order to accelerate the movement of air, install- 
ing a screen covered with cloth, through which fresh air may enter 
the class room, in the window openings. This latter form of ventila- 
tion will ordinarily be found less satisfactory than is the forced 
system of ventilation. 

In the larger school buildings a system of temperature control, 
which acts automatically to shut off the supply of heat, is commonly 
installed. In the smaller school building a thermometer should be 
provided, hung at approximately the breathing level, and the tem^ 
perature record should be placed on the blackboard in the front of 
the room at intervals not exceeding one hour during the school 
session, so that the children and teacher may see that the building is 
not overheated. In very few Delaware schools were even thermom- 
eters found whereby the temperature of class rooms might be regu- 
lated. 

The people of Delaware will, unless action is taken in the very 
near future, be shocked some day by the story of a catastrophe 
resulting in the death of a number of children in a school building 
fire. There is literally no attempt to protect the children of the State 
from the danger of fire which is to be found in the highly inflam- 
mable buildings in which they are housed. In one instance the fur- 
nace, within three feet of the floor of the class room^ above, had on 
one side of it a pile of ashes and cinders which had been thrown out, 

12 



and on the other side a pile of waste paper, boxes and other trash 
ready to be used for kindhng. In several other buildings trash of 
various sorts, old furniture, boxes and other containers had been 
stored under the stairways which provided the only exit for children 
from the second floor. In one of the best school buildings of the 
State, built of semi-fireproof construction, the storeroom for the 
chemical laboratory is placed under the main entrance through which 
the majority of children would have tO' pass in case a fire broke out 
during school hours. It is out of just such situations as these, found 
throughout the United States, that the catastrophes about which one 
reads every month school is in session have occurred. 

The most common source of fire in school buildings is the heat- 
ing plant. In all new buildings which are constructed the heating 
plant should be separated from the rest of the building with fire- 
proof walls and should be entered by a self-closing fireproof door. 
In all buildings more than one story high the stairways should be 
fireproof and enclosed in fireproof stairwells. In a one or two 
teacher building one exit wiJl be found sufficient, with an additional 
exit from the basement if it is used. In buildings housing three or 
more classes, at least two exits should be provided. In buildings 
having more than six classes on the second floor, two or three stair- 
ways from the second floor should be provided. In all buildings a 
small hand fire extinguisher should be made available for every two 
thousand square feet of floor space. In all school buildings, doors 
opening out of class rooms and exits from the corridors of the build- 
ing should open outward. The doors opening from halls and corri- 
dors should be provided with panic bolts which permit of their open- 
ing merely by having children crowd against them. In Delaware, in 
a great many cases, the class room doors open in, and in some cases 
even the doors opening off of corridors, cloak rooms and vestibules 
ofifer obstacles to the escape of children in case of fire. Panic bolts 
have been supplied in a very few cases, while in other instances snap 
locks have been installed on doors in such a manner as actually to 
prevent children from opening them in case of panic. 

It is surprising tO' find a large number of one-teacher schools 
in the State of Delaware in which little attempt has been made to 
provide that cleanliness which is highly essential in the class room. 
Desks are found which are sadly in need of washing and cleaning, 
walls and equipment are laden with accumulated dust and mould, 

13 



while many school rooms have the appearance of having had no ade- 
quate care over a long period of years. 

The standard equipment for cleaning school buildings should 
include oiled brushes, an approved sweeping compound and dustless 
dust cloths. In the Delaware schools the chief equipment consists of 
corn brooms, usually in a much worn condition, and no evidence of 
any provision for dusting was found. In a few instances the floors 
were found oiled, although the oil was improperly applied, making 
the coating so thick on the floor that it would adhere to the garments 
of the older girls and the teacher. 

Modern school buildings are equipped with means for artificial 
lighting. Even a rural school may be equipped with acetylene lamps, 
or, better still, with an electric generator and storage batteries which 
will provide electricity both for evening meetings and for class room 
illumination on dark days. It is as important to provide adequate 
artificial illumination as it is to consider the problem of lighting by 
sunlight. Every class room should have at least six fixtures in order 
to distribute the light evenly over the room. These should be located 
as near the ceiling as is possible, indirect lighting being preferred to 
the direct light. In the installation of electric wires it is important 
that the standards establshed by fire underwriters be followed. In 
two hundred and ninety-three one to four teacher schools for white 
children in the State of Delaware only four are provided with gas or 
electric light. In a number of other instances kerosene lamps brack- 
eted to the walls were supplied. 

Every class room should be equipped with a clock and bell. 
Every school building should have telephone connection. In the 
teacher's office or in the emergency room a complete First Aid equip- 
ment should be installed. In Delaware most of the schools are with- 
out clocks. A hand bell, or, in some cases, a bell mounted in a belfry, 
was found. In none of the smaller schools was telephone connection 
established. First Aid equipment was almost completely lacking. 

No one thing is more important for the comfort and welfare of 
school children than that adequate facilities for drinking and wash- 
ing be provided. A typical situation in Delaware is one in which 
a pump is found in the vestibule or in the pump house outside of 
the building, with a bucket, a common drinking cup and an occa- 
sional wash basin. The common drinking cup has been outlawed in 
most of the states because it has been proved to be a source of con- 

14 



tagion. Facilities for washing, especially where children eat their 
lunch at school, are of the utmost importance from the standpoint of 
health of the school children. No child should come in off the play- 
ground without having an opportunity to cleanse his hands and 
refresh himself by washing his face. A drinking fountain of the 
type which does not permit the pupil to touch his mouth to the 
source of water supply and a sufficient number of wash bowls to 
make washing a habit for every child every day are not too much to 
demand. Where any adequate system of heating and a water supply 
system are installed, hot and cold water should be carried to all wash 
bowls. 

The toilet facilities provided for the children of Delaware can- 
not possibly be described in a manner that will adequately represent 
the facts. The tumbled-down, foul outbuildings, whose walls are 
carved and written over with obscene pictures and vicious and 
immoral statements, are a constant source of physical, social and 
moral contamination to the children of the State. This problem 
should be met in all ncAV school buildings that are constructed by pro- 
viding toilet facilities in the school buildings on the same floor as 
the class rooms. In every case these rooms should be well lighted 
and adequately ventilated, their floors and side walls should be of 
moisture-proof cement or tile, they should in every case be white 
and should be washed as often as any mark appears upon their sur- 
face. It is only by such action upon the part of those responsible 
that this horrible source of contamination can be removed from the 
lives of the children of the State. 

The fixtures for toilets, even in the one-teacher school, should 
be of modern construction. Porcelain seats, cut out in front, with 
water flush or with connection to a chemical tank or to a sewage 
disposal plant, should in every case be provided. For boys urinal 
stalls reaching to the floor, of non-absorbent porcelain, in the ratio of 
one stall to every twenty-five boys, should be installed. One seat for 
every twenty-five boys should be provided. In the girls' toilet one 
seat should be provided for every fifteen girls enrolled. It is, of 
course, not necessary to insist that approaches to toilet rooms be 
properly screened and that the rooms for the separate sexes be kept 
as far apart as possible. Where they must be placed in adjoining, 
spaces, sound-proof walls should be provided between them. 

There are a great many outhouses in Delaware today for which 

15 



no seclusion is provided in the way of screen. In many cases boards 
have fallen off the sides or backs of these buildings, and in a few 
cases they are within from ten to fifteen feet of each other. In a 
few cases only one outhouse is provided in connection with the 
school, and in five cases it was impossible to discover any toilet facili- 
ties on the school grounds. In a number of cases the toilets were 
placed within three to ten feet of the class room windows through 
which the only ventilation of the building was provided. In one 
building the fresh air intake for the Waterbury heater was within 
five feet of a toilet in the filthiest imaginable condition. 

Instances were found where the school trustees had provided 
outhouses which were well constructed and well screened, and in 
as sanitary a condition as such outhouses can be kept. It should be 
borne in mind, however, that such outhouses should never be made 
a part of the equipment of any school building which is planned in 
the future for the State of Delaware. 



CLASS ROOMS—THEIR CONSTRUCTION, ILLUMINA- 
TION AND EQUIPMENT 

The standard size of class room varies with the number of 
pupils that are to be accommodated. In no progressive communit) 
are more than forty children ever placed in charge of a single 
teacher. For this maximumi capacity class room, dimensions of 
24x32 feet, approximately, with a ceiling twelve feet above the floor 
level, are required in order to provide adequate air and floor space. 
The law in many states requires that eighteen square feet of floor 
space and two hundred cubic feet of air space be provided for every 
pupil accommodated. This standard is not too high. 

In Delaware, especially in the one-room schools, there was evi- 
dence in terms of seating facilities provided that these standards 
were not even approached. There was a case in which there was 
less than ten square feet of floor space per pupil and of less than one 
hundred and twenty-five cubic feet of air space per pupil, indicated 
by the number of seats provided. In a very great many cases these 
class rooms were terribly overcrowded. When one takes into con- 
sideration a corresponding failure to provide adequate ventilation, 
one wonders how teacher and children were able to work under these 
conditions. 

16 



For class rooms accommodating less than forty pupils, corre- 
spondingly smaller floor space and cubical contents may be provided, 
although the per pupil standard must be maintained. Where a one- 
teacher school is maintained, very much more generous space than 
the standard suggested must be provided if any attention is to be 
given to books other than the textbooks or any space provided for 
the activities in which the several different groups of children 
should be engaged. 

It will be found that in buildings constructed to accommodate 
both elementary and high schools there will be an advantage in divid- 
ing the building into two parts or wings with the size of class room 
varied to accommodate the different sized classes which are to be 
found in the elementary and in the high school. 

A class room floor should be capable of being cleaned with the 
least possible effort. The best type of floor is the wood or cement 
floor covered with battleship linoleum, cemented together so that 
there are absolutely no crevices for the lodgment of dirt. The second 
best type of floor is the hardwood, closely joined, well-laid floor, 
which is treated at least two or three times a year with oil. 

Every class room should be provided with a closet for the stor- 
age of books and supplies. Blackboards of high-grade slate should 
be placed at the front of the room and on the wall opposite the 
windows, with their chalk rails varying in height from the floor from 
twenty-four to thirty-six inches. In a one-teacher school it will be 
necessary to install the blackboards in the same room of varying 
heights. In a graded school blackboards may be installed of a single 
standard height for each grade. 

The walls and ceilings of class rooms should be finished in a 
smooth, hard plaster, and should be painted, the walls a light buff 
or very light green, and the ceiling a white or light cream color. 

In the rural schools of Delaware the class rooms are of varying 
sizes and shapes, conforming to no standard. The floors are in 
many instances worn to such a degree that they splinter at the slight- 
est contact and frequently one finds that boards of the floor have 
separated in such a way as to become lodging places for dust and 
dirt. The walls are frequently merely sheathed with boards, of such 
a color as to absorb a maximum of light. In other instances the 
walls are. poorly plastered, discolored by water which has leaked 

17 



through from the roof, and covered with dust and soot. In still 
other cases wallpaper of a shade so dark as to absorb a large amount 
of light has been put on the walls to cover up the dirty plaster. 
The plaster is frequently unpainted and in many rooms has fallen 
from ceiling and walls. In a number of instances this plaster had 
apparently fallen years ago and has not been replaced. 

In many of the one-teacher schools where there was no vesti- 
bule, a door which consisted of a number of boards held together by 
two cross-pieces partially covered the opening to the class room. 
There were literally doors of this barn door type which afforded no 
more protection against the weather than the ordinary stable door. 

Slate blackboards of good quality were quite commonly installed 
in the schools of Delaware, but without regard to the heights of the 
children using them. It was surprising to find in a number of 
instances that painted wood, black oilcloth and composition boards 
were still being used for blackboard purposes. 

The standard illumination of a closs room requires that the 
glass area in the windows equal from one-fifth to one-quarter of the 
floor area. These windows should be placed on one side of the long 
axis of the class room, and the children should be seated so that the 
light comes from the left. In order that children looking toward the 
front of the room may not have to look into the light and suffer 
from the consequent eye strain, the first window at the front of the 
room should be from five to seven feet back of the front wall. From 
that point on, to the back of the room, the windows should be banked 
as solidly as construction will permit. They should extend to within 
four to six inches of the ceiling. Window shades should be provided 
for every window so that they may be pulled up and down from 
the center of the window. 

In Delaware fifty per cent, of the class rooms have less than the 
standard amount of glass area. In a very great majority of the build- 
ings lighting is from two or three sides. In a few of the buildings 
light is admitted to the class room even from the front of the room, 
where children must directly look into the light when they look 
toward the blackboards. In the few cases in which an attempt has 
been made to conform to unilateral lighting standards, the desire has 
been completely defeated by the placement of two small windows 
high up in the front of the class room, so that children are compelled 
to directly face this skylight during the entire day. In a number of 

]8 



buildings the seats were arranged so that the maximum source of 
Hght was at their back instead of from the left side. The shades in 
the great majority of Delaware schools are hung from the top and 
are in very poor condition. 

The well-equipped school building provides space, under the 
control of the teacher, for the hanging of children's hats and coats. 
In the rural school space should be provided as well for the placing 
of dinner buckets. It is important that this space be well ventilated 
and lighted and that the racks upon which the clothing is hung be set 
out from the wall so that damp coats have a chance to dry. 

In most cases in Delaware, the vestibule or the back of the room 
is supplied v/ith nails or hooks upon which the clothing is hung 
against the wall with little or no chance for proper ventilation. In 
the one-teacher rural school it is even more important that adequate 
cloakroom and wardrobe space be provided than that similar provi- 
sion be made for children of urban communities. The standard 
school building described in the detailed score card in Part Two 
makes adequate provision for this feature. 

Modern school buildings provide each child with a seat in which 
he can sit and work comfortably, with both feet on the floor. This 
involves single desks or desk chairs, adjustable or of several different 
sizes, so that the pupil may be placed in the seat which best suits his 
height. 

In Delaware, outside of the special school districts, very little 
attention has been given to these requirements. It is very common 
to find not more than two sizes of desk in a class room accommodat- 
ing children of the eight grades. Double seats by far outnumber the 
single seats now available. Very few adjustable desks have been 
installed. In very many cases the furniture is of the old uncomfort- 
able type, carved with the knives of many generations of children. In 
some cases the obscenity that one associates with the outhouse has 
been transferred to the school desk. In a few cases the seating sup- 
plied is of the old home-made board construction — uncomfortable, 
unsightly and unhygienic. If a teacher is to work in the class room 
to advantage, she should be provided with a modern, sanitary flat- 
top desk. In the Delaware schools the equipment for teachers varies 
from the dilapidated kitchen table, evidently made by the pupils of 
the school, to the best type of modern desk. There are relatively few 

19 



of the more modern type and very many of the older and less ade- 
quate sort. 

The success of the work of a teacher depends not only upon the 
desks in which children are seated and the books with which they are 
supplied, but upon the other facilities for instructional purposes 
which are provided. In every one-teacher school there should be 
maps, globes, charts, a sand table for the smaller children, a book- 
case, a dictionary and dictionary stand, a musical instrument, such as 
a piano, organ or Victrola, pictures and wall decorations, as well as 
the equipment for manual training and the homekeeping arts, pro- 
vided in adjacent spaces. In Delaware there are a few very old and 
very poor maps. In one case the only map in the class room was 
printed at a time before the cession from Mexico following the Mexi- 
can War. One wonders whether the teacher taught that kind of 
geography. In very many cases the maps were worn out, so that it 
was almost impossible to trace the outlines of countries or states, or 
to find the names of the places once indicated. In very few cases was 
any adequate globe provided. In only a half dozen cases were sand 
trays for the little children found. A number of organs were found, 
most of them in such a condition as to make it impossible to consider 
them as musical instruments. The Victrola was conspicuous in its 
absence. A few pianos, some of them in good condition, have been 
installed in the larger schools. The only pictures that deserved rec- 
ognition were the war posters that had been placed on the walls by 
enterprising teachers. The few school rooms which gave evidence of 
thought and care upon the part of the teacher and parents in the 
community because of the equipment and decorations which were 
provided stood out in sharp contrast with the poverty and meanness 
of the great majority of these class rooms. 

SPECIAL ROOMS 

In the discussion of a modern school plant, given above, it was 
suggested that library space, rooms for manual training and the 
home-making arts, a play and community room and a fuel room 
within the building were required. 

In Delaware, outside of the special school districts, there has 
been very little attention given to these features of school construc- 
tion. Of two hundred and ninety-three schools for white children 

20 



of four teachers or less, only four buildings were found to provide 
play rooms, five buildings had rooms v^hich served the purpose of 
community centers, one building had a teacher's office, one building 
a library and one building a lunch room. No single building of the 
two hundred and ninety-three contained any provision for the indus- 
trial or home-making arts. 

It is confidently to be expected that in the program of school 
construction just ahead Delaware will meet the standards of school 
building and equipment provided by the more progressive communi- 
ties of the United States. Surely no other State in the Union has 
immediately before it a greater possibility of approaching these 
standards. The welfare of the children of Delaware rests in the 
hands of those who are responsible for building these modern school 
houses and providing the opportunity for a modern education. 



21 



Chapter Two 

School Buildings in Delaware of 

More Than Two Rooms, Except 

Special Districts 



CHAPTER II 

School Buildings in Delaware of 

More Than Two Rooms, Except 

Special Districts 

(The Survey Comniission has made a written, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the following pages are 
included descriptions of all school buildings of nwre than two rooms, 
except those of the special districts.) 

In order to make more concrete the general discussion given 
in the preceding pages, there follow descriptions of some of the, 
poorest, average and best of the one-teacher schools visited by the 
Survey Commission, and some of the best, average and poorest of 
the two-teacher schools visited and inspected by them. There also 
follow the descriptions of all buildings in the State where three or 
or more teachers teach, which were not included in the report made 
by the Survey Commission in June, 1919. Because of the great simi- 
larity of the one and two teacher buildings in the various parts of 
the State, it was thought desirable to include here only representative 
types. The Survey Commission has, however, inspected all of the 
school buildings of the State and has submitted to the Service Citi- 
zens of Delaware a report on each school building. The tabular 
summaries of Part Two give the itemized scores for all of the school 
buildings of the State. In describing school buildings, the scores 
allotted on each of the five major items of the score card have been 
given, with the highest score possible on each item for purposes of 
comparison. Photographs showing the conditions within and around 
some of the school buildings have also been included, together with 
a statement of conditions found to exist in these buildings during 
the period in which they were inspected, July and August, 1919. 

25 



BETHEL NO. 99, 164, 187 

Score Perfect Score 

'I. Site 105 160 

II. Building 87 200 

III. Service Systems 50 250 

IV. Class Rooms 90 225 

V. Special Rooms 7 165 



339 1000 

The Bethel School is a two-story, four-room 'frame structure 
which was planned by those who knew little of school building 
standards. The building architecturally resembles that of the old- 
fashioned small factory which is to be found in small communities. 
Few school architects would have planned this building as a two- 
story structure. As it stands, the rooms in the second story present 
fire hazards to the children occupying them which ought not to be 
tolerated by their parents. An effort has been made to put this build- 
ing in good condition for school use. The furniture has been painted 
and the general appearance of the school rooms lead one to com- 
mend the janitor. The rooms are approximately 30x20 feet in their 
dimensions, and unfortunately have been lighted along the short side. 
The approximate ratio between window area and floor area is about 
ten per cent., while the standard ratio has been set at twenty per 
cent. Old double seats have been made more presentable in their 
coat of paint, but still are unsatisfactory from the point of sanita- 
tion and school discipline. Only a table appears to have been pro- 
vided the teacher for her needs. The treads on the stairs are 14 
inches wide, while the risers are 9, making the stairway an awkward 
one to use and dangerous in time of haste and fear. To add to the 
fire dangers in this building, the outer doors all open inward. The 
rooms are heated with ordinary stoves. 

One of the two upper class rooms apparently has been utilized 
as a general play room. This room did not present the tidy appear- 
ance of the other rooms. There is no reason why a play room should 
be less tidy and clean than any other room in the building. The 
importance of education to this community may perhaps be meas- 
ured by the fact that it was considered proper to place this school 
building on a very unimportant side street. 

,26- 



BRIDGEVILLE NO. SO. SOX 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 105 160 

II. Building 125 200 

III. Service Systems 113 250 

IV. Class Rooms 212 225 

V. Special Rooms 21 165 



576 1000 

The Bridgeville School is housed in one of the best buildings 
in the State of Delaware. It is a comparatively new two-story and 
basement brick structure of seven rooms. It is a rectangular type, 
with a flat roof approximately 40x64 in dimensions, located on a 
site approximately 210 feet square. The environment is made 
especially attractive by the beautiful trees that surround the build- 
ing. The site is well drained and the nature of the soil is well adapted 
to school purposes, but unfortunately the area is entirely too small 
to allow for recreational activities. To make up for this defect in the 
original plan an athletic field should be secured in as close proximity 
to the school as possible. The building throughout evidences excel- 
lent workmanship and good quality of materials. 

The basement is high and well lighted and is available for any 
type of school activity, either recreational or otherwise. A direct 
system of steam heat is supplied, but no adequate provision has been 
made for ventilation. This might readily be corrected by the install- 
ation of individual fans and motors with approved type of hood and 
forced draft over the radiation now installed in the rooms. 

The building is not of fireproof construction, but is well suppHed 
with fire extinguishers of a modern and approved type. Fire escapes 
have not been provided, and in this respect the building is unsatis- 
factory. Fire escapes should be installed at the earliest possible date. 
The furnace room is not cut ofif from the remainder of the building 
by fire doors or fireproof partitions. The element of risk, therefore, 
is great, and every possible precaution should be taken against loss 
of life through fire or panic. 

The building is clean and well kept throughout and wired for 
artificial light, but the number and location of lights installed is 
entirely inadequate. One drinking fountain of an improved type is 

27 



found on each floor of the building. This is not a sufficient number 
to serve adequately the needs of the number of children housed in 
the building. The minimum should be one fountain for every 75 
children. Washing facilities are installed, but not in sufficient number 
to meet standard requirements. Water flush toilets are located in 
the basement of the building and are in fairly good condition. The 
seats and bowls are not as clean as this type of equipment should be 
kept. The walls and fixtures of these rooms were free from obscen- 
ity and stand as convincing evidence of the fact that when children 
are provided with the right sort of toilet accommodations they will 
not abuse them to the extent that they do the unattractive, un- 
approved toilets. 

The location and connection of the class rooms are well planned 
and convenient. They are slightly undersized, but not overcrowded. 
The condition of the plaster and walls is not all that it should be, 
only part of the rooms having been tinted„the remainder being left in 
the rough, unattractive sand plaster finish. The blackboards through- 
out the building are of excellent quality slate and well installed. The 
glass area throughout the building is up to standard and fairly well 
distributed. The light is well banked on the left of the pupils. A 
single window, however, has been placed in the rear of the room, but 
near enough to the left-hand wall so as not tO' be seriously objection- 
able. The cloakrooms and wardrobes are well lighted and well ven- 
tilated, under teacher control, and add tremendously to the conven- 
ience of the building. The seats and desks are of the single, non- 
adjustable type and are not especially well selected to allow for the 
variation of size in pupils. 

A considerable part of the large basement is now being utilized 
for play-room purposes. Part of this space might well be parti- 
tioned off and equipped for manual training and domestic science. 
The building scores lowest on the items of special rooms. They 
receive but 21 out of a possible 140 points. In order for this build- 
ing to have its full share in the responsibility of educating and train- 
ing the youth of Bridgeville and the surrounding section, it should 
have added to it an auditorium and gymnasium of large and ample 
proportions. Library room, lunch room, officers' room, teachers' 
room and nurses' room and janitors' room should be provided in this 
addition. Additional laboratory space should also be included and 
more provision should be made for store rooms and the like. With 

28 



this excellent nucleus about which a modern school plant might be 
constructed, it seems advisable that Bridgeville be made the center 
of a large consolidated area and that a much more effective educa- 
tional plant be developed. 




CHESWOLD NO. 83 

Score 

I. Site 65 

II. Building 98 

III. Service Systems 43 

IV. Class Rooms Ill 

V. Special Rooms 5 

322 



Perfect Score 
160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Cheswold School is a two-story, four-room building, con- 
structed about ten years ago. It is 30x45 feet in dimensions and 
located on a village lot 95x115. The external appearance of the 
building is not unattractive, but the interior construction evidences 
not only an extreme lack of knowledge of schoolhouse planning, but 



29 



a very poor, cheap type of construction as well. Everything about 
the building is of the poorest type of workmanship. The asbestos 
roof is of such poor quality as to have permitted leakage to such 
an extent as to damage the entire interior of the building. The 
arrangement of the class room corridors, stairways and class rooms 
could scarcely be planned with less attention to modern standards. 
The building is heated by direct steam, with the heating plant 
located in an excavation under the building. Good judgment in plan- 
ning the building would have provided for a complete, finished base- 
ment space so as to make it available for school purposes. In the 
light of every detail it is obvious that the main consideration in the 
construction of the building was to create an attractive external 
appearance. The class rooms are lighted on two and three sides, and 
the meager equipment of the building shows evidence of much abuse. 
If the children of the Cheswold community are to receive adequate 
educational preparation for life it is obviously necessary that this 
comparatively new building be disposed of and a new modern 
structure provided. 



DAGSBORO NO. 24. 159 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 40 160 

II. Building 39 200 

III. Service Systems 27 250 

IV. Class Rooms 65 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



171 1000 

The Dagsboro School building is a four-room, two-story, rect- 
angular type of non-vestibuled, frame structure, standing on an un- 
improved site bordering upon a deep open ditch. The site of this 
building is too small to permit of a well-developed school program 
on the recreational side. It is, however, capable of extension and 
possible of development if graded and well tiled. A well-ordered 

30 



grove of trees has been planted and in a comparatively short time 
will add materially to the attractiveness of the entire situation. 
Except for minor defacement and a few broken window panes, 
hanging-down shutters, which can easily be remedied, the exterior 
of the building is in fair condition, but the interior, in construction 




WHERE THE PRIMARY CHILDREN OF DAGSBOiRO ARE HOUSED 

and arrangement, violates every standard of modern school archi- 
tecture. The rooms are square and lighted from three sides. The 
floors are in an abominable condition as to wear, repair and dirt ; 
the blackboards are not provided with chalk rails and the entire 
appearance of the interior evidences a most niggardly attitude on the 
part of school authorities. Instead of a modern heating plant, as 
one would have a right to expect to find in a four-room building, one 
finds individual stoves in each room. 

The outdoor toilets are in a very bad condition, and from the 
amount and character of the obscenity written and pictured upon 
the walls of these buildings one is compelled to judge the moral 
standards of the children of this school as being extremely low. 
This evidence of immorality and low-mindedness carries over from 
the toilet rooms to the walls of the corridors and stairway of the 
building proper. It is inconceivable that a father or mother of a 



31 



pure-minded boy or girl would permit a child to attend a school in 
which such a condition prevails were they advised of the facts. 

Only by extensive alteration, addition and renovation can this 
building be made acceptable as a type of village school. It is to be 
noted that the school is much crowded, and that in itself justifies 
the recommendation that extensive alterations and additions be made 
at once. In order to meet, temporarily at least, the overcrowded con- 
dition an old abandoned rural school building has been moved and 
placed upon the site of the main building. No score of this build- 
ing was made, there being little outside of the ground upon which 
the building stands that is recognizable as any feature of a school. 
The accompanying picture of this room is sufficient to justify its 
immediate condemnation. It has not been within the experience of 
the Survey Commission to find children housed in a more damnable 
room. 

Evidently this district does not regard the education of the very 
small children as being of any importance, for it is the primary grades 
which are housed in this room. It is not going beyond a justifiable 
recommendation to propose that .this building be destroyed. 



DELAWARE CITY NO. 52, ETC. 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 85 125 

II. Building 69 165 

III. Service Systems 55 280 

IV. Class Rooms 88 290 

V. Special Rooms 7 140 



304 1000 

Delaware City's school building is a two-story brick structure 
oi six rooms. It is of the rectangular type embodying no principles 
of modern schoolhouse construction. At the time of the survey the 
building was very dirty and every feature, both of the building and 
of the equipment, evidenced extreme lack of attention, care and 
supervision. The toilet facilities for the building are located in the 

32 



basement and are of the water flush type, but extremely inadequate 
in number and very insanitary in condition. The site upon which the 
building is located is very unsatisfactory both as to size and loca- 
tion. In the planning of a new school building for Delaware City 
an entirely new site should be selected. The building is heated^^by 




DELAWARE CITY SCHOOL 

direct steam heat, but in all other respects the service systems of the 
school are very far below acceptable standards. The class rooms 
are meagerly furnished, poorly lighted and very undesirable gen- 
erally. No provision is made in this building for special rooms or 
any educational program other than the routine textbook -variety. 



33 



DELMAR NO. 163, 163/? 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 54 160 

II. Building 13 200 

III. Service Systems 65 250 

IV. Class Rooms 124 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



256 1000 

No doubt the inhabitants of Delmar are thoroughly dissatisfied 
with the wretched frame fire trap which is now used as a school 
building for the white children of this city. No play space is avail- 
able for children, as the building occupies almost the entire site. The 
exterior presents a paint worn, shabby, neglected appearance, 
rather in contrast to many of the pretty homes and well-cared-for 
yards that are to be found in the city. The description of one room 
fits that of all. The blackboards are all about the rooms, even 
between windows, where they are of little use. The natural lighting 
of the class rooms is according to the following schedule : 

No. of Windows Class Room 

on children's A B C D E F G 

front 111 1 

rear 2 12 2 2 1 

left 3 3 3 2 13 3 

right 3 3 

It is evident from the tabulation that any type of lighting is 
deemed satisfactory, which is quite contrary to the recognized accept- 
able standards. The situation with respect to artificial lighting is 
best shown by the situation in a primary room. The room is approx- 
imately 36x24 feet in its dimensions, and is provided with one forty- 
watt Mazda lamp suspended from the center of the room. In other 
words, the artificial lighting is practically worthless. The black- 
boards in all the rooms are all of one height. That it is undesirable 
tO' place blackboards in school buildings in this fashion is evident in 
this building, as it has been necessary to build platforms underneath 

34 



the blackboards so that the smaller children may actually be able to 
reach them. There is one stairway leading to the four rooms on 
the second floor. This is a wooden, open type of stairway with one 
long ruh without turns. The rear class room would not find this 
stairway very accessible in case of danger. Underneath this single 
stairway, which is the only exit for the children of four rooms, is 
lodged an indiscriminate mass of janitor's suppHes. This situation 
cannot be too severely condemned. 

In case a fire occurs in this building it is safe to assume that 
a number of children will lose their lives. If the citizens of Delaware 
have little regard for the safety and lives of their children they 
should continue to send them to this fire trap for their training. 
Another source of fire danger exists in the fact that each room is 
heated with its own stove, and that the electric lighting installed does 
not reach the standard which is set at the present day in most pro- 
gressive communities. 

"Sanitor" toilets have been installed in this building. This is 
commendable in that these toilets are superior to the outhouses that 
are to be found in the majority of places in Sussex county. In a 
community of the size of Delmar nothing less than a high-grade 
water flush toilet should be tolerated. 

The installation of drinking fountains at varying heights, so 
that both the large and small children may drink with ease, is to be 
commended. Speedy action should be taken by the citizens of Del- 
mar to substitute for this building a modern, high-grade, fireproof 
building. 



ELLENDALE NO. 125, 171 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 35 160 

II. Building 12 ' 200 

III. Service Systems 26 250 

IV. Class Rooms 61 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 

137 1000 

.35 



The Ellendale School is housed in a building which is a disgrace 
to any self-respecting comrnunity. It is a three-room, two-story 
frame structure, 22x48 in dimensions, standing flush with the alley 
on the back end of a small village lot. The flagpole is the only feature 
about the entire situation upon which one can comment favorably. 
The site is so small and poorly arranged as to be impossible of exten- 
sion or use as it is. The building scores 12 out of 200 points and is 
about as near to nothing as is conceivable. It is a dirty, tumbledown 
wreck, filthy and abused. A child with the highest intelligence and 
most laudable ambitions could not survive eight years of training 
in this sort of an institution without acquiring both knowledge of 
and contact with the lowest type of moral and mental contamination. 
Nothing commendable is found about this building which would 
warrant its further use and everything condemns it to speedy aband^ 
onment for school or any other purposes. 

Ellendale is so situated as readily tO' form the center of a large 
consolidation and thereby make possible the erection of a large, effi- 
cient, influential and prosperous school. 



FELTON NO. 54 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 78 125 

II. Building 49 165 

III. Service Systems 40 280 

IV. Class Rooms 89 290 

V. Special Rooms 5 140 



261 1000 

The Felton School is a two-story frame building which has been 
added to from time to time to meet the emergency needs of the 
growing community. As a result of the original plan and the later 
additions, the building is very poorly arranged, and at the present 
time extremely unsatisfactory for school purposes. The local school 
authorities have seen to it that the building is kept in a fair state 
of preservation, so that its general appearance is somewhat 

36 



deceptive. The very low score of 261 points is a measure of its 
effectiveness for school purposes rather than its appearance. The 
site is so small as to be entirely inadequate to the needs of so large 
a school, and the building proper, scoring only 49 points out of a pos- 
sible 165, is sufficient in itself to- condemn the plant. The measure of 
the building in meeting the problems of the health and comfort of 
the children is indicated by the score of 40 out of 280 for service 
systems. The lighting of the class rooms is bad throughout. One 




FELTON SCHOOL 

half of the rooms have less than sufficient glass area, and in all cases 
the rooms are lighted from either two or three sides. This type of 
construction is not accepted in modern school architecture and is 
recognized as extremely harmful for the children. The only provi- 
sion for special rooms in the entire building is a small makeshift of 
a chemical laboratory. 

The school building in a community of this size should provide 
adequately for the teaching of chemistry, physics, manual training, 
domestic science, agriculture, and provide equally well for the physi- 
cal training of its children. This program would require an exten- 



;r7 



sion of the plant to which the present building is in no way adapt- 
able. It is the recommendation of the Survey Commission that this 
building be abandoned at the earliest possible date and a new build- 
ing equal to the community needs be constructed on a new and ade- 
quate school site. 



FRANKFORD NO. 97, 97%, 135, 135% 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site , 65 160 

II. Building 60 200 

III. Service Systems. 17 250 

IV. Class Rooms 99 225 

V. Special Rooms......... 165 



241 1000 

The Frankford School is a new six-room, two-story frame 
structure, located on a small village site in a beautiful grove of oak 
trees. The location of the building is not unattractive, but unfortu- 
nately there is little or no .recreational space for the large number of 
children who attend the school. To remedy the situation the site 
might be extended, with difficulty, however, to the eastward. But if 
suitable arrangements could be made it would seem more advisable 
to secure a larger and better adapted site for recreational purposes 
across the street to the north of the building. If any adequate rec- 
reational program is to be carried out, and the physical welfare of 
the children is to be considered, some steps in this direction must 
be taken. 

The windows in some of the rooms have been fairly well banked 
and adequate glass area has thereby been provided, but apparently 
the architect or carpenter who drew or executed the plans could not 
shake himself loose from the tradition that there should be two 
windows placed in the front of the room. In consequence, an other- 
wise well-planned room has been made very unsatisfactory. This 
condition is found in two of the six rooms. The other four rooms 
do not conform to the standard measurements or shape of accept- 

38 



able class rooms. They are approximately 18x20 feet, and wider 
than they are deep. They are lighted from two sides, a considerable 
portion of the light entering from the rear, thereby placing every 
pupil's work in his own shadow. 

A considerable number of new single desks of a good type 
have been supplied, but the old double seats, which bear abundant 
evidence of several generations of jack-knives in the hands of pupils, 
many of whom have had very low moral standards and no respect 
for their fellow classmates, should be destroyed. The above state- 
ment is made because of the numerous lewd carvings which are 
found on the most conspicuous places on the desks. It seems utterly 
unjustifiable that the pure and respectable children of the com- 
munity be compelled, year after year, to look upon these carvings 
made by low-minded students of other years. 

The heating plant is of a most extraordinary type to be found in 
a school building of this size. It is a pipeless hot-air furnace, with a 
single register, about 3^ feet square, located in the corridor in the 
center of the main floor. The heated air from this register is 
expected to circulate through the entire building, heating all six 
rooms by passing through small openings about 6x30 inches in the 
baseboards. The Survey Commission is not able to state to what 
degree this system of heating is effective in this particular building, 
but from the point of view of fresh air and adequate ventilation it 
does not seem to be a heating system which could be recommended 
for school properties. 

The fire hazard in the building is exceedingly great and of such 
proportions as to justify the belief that should a fire occur, which 
is altogether possible from the unprotected nature of the floor joists 
over the furnace, a great many children would lose their lives, either 
as a result of the fire directly or through panic and trampling. There 
is no fire escape on the building, and the only means of exit for the 
entire six rooms is by way of the main front door. In order to escape 
without congestion an extremely well-ordered fire drill would be 
necessary. The three upper rooms are required to come down a single 
wooden stairway, which is directly over the furnace and which 
would, in all probabiHty, be the first to burn. This situation is made 
more perilous by the fact that the stairway does not lead directly 
to the main door, but lands against a blank wall at one side of the 
main door, requiring two right-angled turns to reach the outside. 

39 



This is further aggravated by the fact that the stairway itself is 
much wider than the landing at the base of the stairs, where the 
children would be required to execute one of these right-angled 
turns. The treads of the stairway are more than four feet in length, 
while the opening between the lower post of the banister and the wall 
is only three feet. This, together with the fact that the children from 
one room on the ground floor would be required to pass through this 
opening at the same time, and the children from the two other 
ground floor rooms would be passing through the main exit, makes 
it practically certain that any panic in the building would result in 
the blocking of the exit and the death of many children. Before this 
building is used a single day for school purposes a fire escape should 
be provided for the upper floors and a floor level exit should be cut 
in the rear ground floor room. 



FREDERICA NO. 32, 75, 76, 78 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 108 125 

II. Building 102 165 

III. Service Systems 75 280 

IV. Class Rooms 190 290 

V. Special Rooms 15 140 



490 1000 

The Frederica School is pleasantly situated in an environment 
of homes, gardens and private yards. The maple trees which line 
the road in front of the schoolhouse are very attractive and add to 
the appearance of the plant. Brick and concrete walks in front and 
rear show a solicitude on the part of the school trustees which does 
not appear in many other buildings of this kind. This school is a 
two-story wood and shingle structure, with fairly good-sized play- 
ground to the rear, which can be adapted for games, though play- 
ground apparatus is entirely lacking. The interior of the building 
presents a very disappointing appearance. The original construction 
of the building was of the very poorest type, and the still unpainted 

40 



walls have cracked and broken away in so many places that it seems 
unfortunate that a community should have spent its money in this 
fashion. The blackboards need replacing throughout with a high 
grade of slate, since they are merely painted surfaces which have 
worn away to such a degree that in places they are not usable. The 
shades are in wretched condition. In some rooms the old double 
seats look as though they had gone through fire and storm, since 
they are deprived of all varnish and present a most unattractive 
appearance. The new single seats installed in one of the upstairs 
rooms are attractive, but unfortunately only seats of one size have 
been installed in a room which, without doubt, seats children who 
have great differences in their heights. If this building is continued 
as a school building the whole interior needs refinishing. A section 
of the basement of this building might be utilized for play purposes, 
though at the time of visitation the one foot of water in the base- 
ment did not permit one to discover how sections of this basement 
were being utilized. The fuel room and boiler room are not separate 
from the rest of the basement. 



GREENWOOD NO. 91, 9lX 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 100 125 

II. Building Ill 165 

III. Service Systems 97 280 

IV. Class Rooms 187 290 

V. Special Rooms 14 140 



509 1000 

The Greenwood building is a six-room., two-story brick struct- 
ure, built in 1915. It is rectangular in type, with a shingle roof and 
concrete foundation. In external appearance it is an attractive build- 
ing, but the grounds have not been improved and nothing has been 
done in the way of planting shade trees or shrubbery which would 
improve the environment. The site is unusually large for school 
buildings in Delaware, but still under standard size. It is, however, 

41 



being put to use, a grandstand having been erected and a baseball 
field laid out. It has many possibilities of further development. If 
expert advice had been sought in checking up the educational require- 
ments upon the building the community of Greenwood would have 
today a much more efficient school plant than it now has. There is 
also striking evidence of poor economy both in the quality of work- 
manship and the material which has been placed in this building. A 




GREENWOOD SCHOOL 

direct system of heating has been installed, with the boiler located 
in the basement. The radiation is apparently adequate, but no provi- 
sion for ventilation has been made. 

For a two-story building the fire protection is criminally low. 
No fire escapes are provided for the pupils on the second floor, and 
the arrangement of the stairway which leads to the main exits is 
such as to result in congestion and trampling to death of pupils in 
the case of panic. The main stairway, which is 92 inches in width, 
chokes very much at the first landing, where a right angle turn must 
be executed on either of the two stairs leading down to the main 
floor. The landing is much less than half of the width of the main 



4 '2 



stairway, thus making the outlets, even if taken together, much less 
than the opening on the second floor. The stairways are of the flim- 
siest, cheapest type of wooden construction, and would obviously 
be the first part of the building to be destroyed or made impassable 
should fire occur. The building should not be used for school pur- 
poses without installation of fire escapes with floor level exits. 

The building is clean and in good condition. The artificial light- 
ing which has been iristalled is adequate only for the service of the 
janitor for cleaning out after dark. Only two drinking fountains 
have been supplied for the entire school. This is inadequate. As a 
standard, one fountain should be provided for every 75 children. 
Water flush toilets have been installed, but are insufficient in number 
and poorly distributed, since there are none placed on the second 
floor. Separate toilets are not provided for the teachers nor for the 
janitor. The class rooms are of standard size and fairly well 
connected. 

The glass area is up to standard, but poorly distributed, the 
rooms being lighted from two sides in some cases. In the unilaterally 
lighted rooms the windows extend all the way to the front wall. At 
least the two front windows in these rooms should be heavily cur- 
tained, if not permanently closed. In the south room on the second 
floor are two windows on the west wall and movable seats installed 
to face west instead of north. The blackboards should be moved from 
their present location to the front wall. The movable seats would 
allow the use of the room in connection with the auditorium arrange- 
ment, which is provided for the opening of the partition between this 
room and the adjoining room. 

The walls throughout the building are untinted and unattractive. 
The small investment required for this work would be repaid many 
times over in the general effect of the building upon its occupants. 
The building has been planned and constructed without due consider- 
ation to the demands of modern educational needs. Room space has 
not been provided for any satisfactory teaching of manual training or 
domestic science. There is no office, library, gymnasium, teachers' 
room or nurses' room. All of these very necessary features of the 
building should be provided by well-planned additions to the building 
A school architect should be employed to plan these extensions and 
to tear out and overhaul certain features of the interior of the 

43 



present building, namely, the stairways and the lighting arrange- 
ments. 

The score of the building places it in that group where it is 
acceptable only on the condition that extensive alterations should be 
made. The score of 509 for a city school building is not high enough 
to justify the continued use of the building without such modifica- 
tions. Greenwood might easily become the consolidation center of no 
less than four rural school districts, and for high school purposes 
even a larger number of districts might be included. 



LINCOLN NO. 3, 175, 175% 

Score Perfect Score 

L Site 90 160 , 

II. Building 55 200 

III. Service Systems 22 250 

IV. Class Rooms 54 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



221 1000 

This is a four-room, two-story rectangular structure in which 
at present only three rooms ar^ being utilized. The building was so 
poorly constructed that it became necessary, a short time ago, to 
support the one room which is being used upstairs by having pillars 
built in the room below. The second upstairs room has floors which 
bulge, indicating that before this room can be used this floor also 
must be supported. The plaster is falling in this building. The stairs 
are in a decrepit condition and without handrails. This building is 
being heated by stoves, which, according to the advice of young 
children in the neighborhood, are entirely inadequate in the winter. 
The class rooms are lighted on three sides and are laid out along 
the short rather than the long axis. This building should be sup- 
planted by a high-grade, up-to-date structure. 

44 



MAGNOLIA, NO. 50--108 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 90 125 

II. Building 52 165 

III. Service Systems 67 280 

IV. Class Rooms 110 290 

V. Special Rooms . 140 



319 1000 

The Magnolia School is the only school building for white chil- 
dren in the prosperous appearing little community of Magnolia. The 
site is extremely limited and not equipped with any playground appa- 
ratus. The toilets on the rear of the site are unattractive and ought 
not to be tolerated as they stand. The environment is rather attract- 
ive and both the exterior and the interior of the building present the 
appearance of considerable care on the part of the school authori- 
ties. The class rooms are very poorly lighted; namely, from three 
sides. They are somewhat irregular and have exceedingly poor floors 
which show the wear and tear of many years. In this community 
one might expect to find better class room equipment than double 
seats, and also the heater in each of the class rooms. All class room 
doors, both into the hallways and into the class rooms, open inward. 
This fault should be remedied immediately. The stairway to the 
second floor is badly worn and has treads of awkward dimensions so 
that two handrails are very desirable. The upkeep on this building 
is a little better than the average which one finds in other schools in 
the county. 



MARSHALLTON NO. 77 

Score Possible Score 

:. Site 102 160 

II. Building 105 200 

III. Service Systems 72 250 

IV. Class Rooms 128 225 

V. Special Rooms 4 165 

411 1000 
45 



The Marshallton School building is a two-story, four-room brick 
structure, approximately 26x54 feet in dimensions, in fair condition. 
It is located on a site entirely too small to accommodate even in a 
most limited sense the number of children that attend the school. 
The location, however, is such as tO' make possible the extension 
of the grounds to a fairly satisfactory standard. The building is 
heated by a direct system, with heating plant located in the basement. 
It is wired for electricity, but the number of outlets and degree of 
illumination are too low to render any service other than to be of 
assistance to the janitor in cleaning the buildings at night. The toilets 
are of the outhouse variety and are in a very filthy, vicious and insan- 
itary condition. The class rooms are of fair size and standard in 
shape, but poorly equipped and very poorly lighted. The glass area 
is sufficient, but the windows are distributed on three sides of the 
room. In meeting the educational needs of the district in which Mar- 
shallton is located, the Survey Commission would recommend that 
the present school building be retained as a housing for the children 
of the first six grades, and that the children above the sixth grade be 
transported to a consolidated center in which both the districts of 
Richardson Park and Elsemere participate in the development of an 
educational program for the larger community. In order that the 
present building may be made suitable for the housing of the first 
six grades, extensive alteration and repairs should be carried out. A 
school building architect should be employed to plan these alterations, 
and the plans should include a proper distribution of the light within 
the class rooms, provisions for play rooms, adequate water supply, 
inside toilets, community room and such other facilities as the stand- 
ard school plant of this grade should have. 



MILLSBORO NO. 23, 23^4, 161. 161/^ 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 85 125 

II. Building 38 165 

III. Service Systems 14 280 

IV. Class Rooms 108 290 

V. Special Rooms 140 

245 1000 
46 



The Millsboro School for white children is a positive disgrace 
to the community. It is composed of six class rooms, some of which 
are as large as 30x30, and are quite inadequately lighted. The new 
rooms which have been added provide some advantages that are not 
found in the old rooms. These rooms are approximately of the 
proper class room size. Although the long side of these rooms is 
taken up completely by windows, nevertheless two windows have 
been placed in back of the teacher's desk so that the children must 
look directly into the light. 

Throughout this building dirt and filth prevail. Although 
attempts are being made to paint and repair the old part of this build- 
ing, the construction is so cheap and wretched that practically all 
repair work will be in vain. It is hardly conceivable that a com- 
munity will be content with the condition in this building when the 
facts are clearly brought to their attention. The building should be 
abandoned at the earliest possible moment and a consolidation 
effected which will permit of the erection of a much larger school 
and the caring for many more children in a proper building. 



NEWPORT DISTRICT NO, 21 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 122 160 

II. Building 126 200 

III. Service Systems Ill 250 

IV. Class Rooms 151 225 

V. Special Rooms 28 165 



538 1000 

Newport School building is a four-room, two-story brick struc- 
ture, rectangular in type, standing on a site 150x300 feet. The build- 
ing was constructed in 1895, has been well preserved, and at the time 
of survey was being thoroughly overhauled and put in excellent con- 
dition for the opening of school. The site of this building, though 
still far below the standard set for buildings of this type, is much 
larger than commonly found in the State of Delaware. 

47 



The building is clean and well-kept. It is heated by direct steam 
heating, with heater located in the basement. It is supplied with elec- 
tric current. Toilet systems are of the outside type, but are supplied 
with an excellent vault and are well protected. 

Class rooms are slightly under size and do not conform to 
standard, but for comparatively small classes will serve adequately. 
The glass area is up to standard, but the windows are distributed so 
as to supply light from three sides. 

The auditorium, which has the possibilities of use as a com- 
munity room, is made ineffective by the placement of permanent 
seats facing each other in the two rooms, which can be thrown 




NEWPORT SCHOOL 

together by a movable partition. In order to take full advantage of 
the opportunities offered by this room, movable type of seats should 
be employed. Two playrooms in the basement of the building were 
being finished at the time of the survey. These rooms, though poorly 
lighted, will make a distinct contribution to the usefulness of the 
building. 

Should the proposed consolidation be carried out, the Newport 
School building should be converted into a six-year school. Under 
these conditions there would be sufficient space to provide for the 



48 



installation of indoor toilets, adequate play space, auditorium com- 
munity room. However, before the building* is approved as an accept- 
able school building-, the lighting arrangements should be of a sort 
to meet standard conditions. 



NEWARK GRAMMAR SCHOOL NO. 39, 41% 

(White) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 75 125 

II. Building 44 165 

III. Service Systems 66 280 

IV. Class Rooms 185 290 

V. Special Rooms 8 140 



378 1000 

This building is the most modern of the three that exist in New- 
ark. It has some attractive features about it and others that are not 
at all pleasing. The building is better cared for than the average 
buildings in the State. It apparently was ready for the opening of 
school on the Saturday before the new year began in 1919. Its rooms 
are neat in appearance, equipped in most instances with large single 
seats and with an adequate amount of blackboard space. It has a 
library room, which has been neatly arranged and set aside appar- 
ently for library purposes and special class work. This is one of the 
few buildings in the State in which this particular provision has been 
made. Some of its faults become evident as one approaches the build- 
ing. The site is entirely inadequate for this school, and no effort has 
been expended upon it to make it useful for school purposes. The 
stairways to the building are unfortunately of wood instead of con- 
crete and are not provided with proper handrails. On the doors 
one finds the snap lock, which may readily prevent children from 
using these passageways in case of danger. Each door should be 
equipped with a panic bolt, which easily permits the child to open 
the door by throwing his weight against the bolt. The halls are in a 
number of instances used as cloakrooms. This adds to the problem 

49 



of discipline and also decreases the score on sanitation. The school- 
roomi doors unfortunately open inward. The rooms are very poorly 
lighted, the arrangement of windows being unnecessarily defective. 
A table is provided instead of a teacher's desk. The blackboards are 
not adjusted to the proper heights of the children using them. The 
floors are oiled, but covered with an excessive amount of oil which 
has been placed upon the floors in an unscientific manner. The base- 
ment has no cement floor, so that children using the area devoted 
to play purposes carry back with them to the upper floors the dirt 
which they collect below. As no cement walks are provided on the 
outside, this additional source of dirt and dust must add to the dis- 
comfort of teachers and children and to the labor of the janitor. The 
boiler room and the fuel room are not separated from the rest of the 
basement. The girls' toilet is provided with a minimum of seclusion 
since it is located immediately adjoining the unenclosed basement 
play room. The system of artificial ventilation provided is question- 
able as to its value and hardly understood by the janitor. As far as 
could be ascertained, no direct beneficial results accrue from this 
installation. The air intake is wrongly placed off of the ground level. 
The boys' toilet, located in the basement, is cut off from the rest of 
the building and yet becomes a source of foul smells because of the 
absorbent type of material utilized on its walls and floor. Boys would 
find it difficult to make their exit from this room in case their stair- 
way was blocked. The interior of the building ofifers no protection 
against fire. It therefore should have been equipped with outside fire 
escapes. No doubt the shell of this building could be used as the basis 
of reconstruction for a modern school plant. It would, however, be 
inadvisable for Newark to appropriate money for this purpose, since 
it is far more advisable in this community to have its entire school 
plant housed in one structure. 



50 



NEWARK PRIMARY SCHOOL 

(White) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 90 160 

II. Building 37 200 

III. Service Systems 63 '250 

IV. Class Rooms 59 225 

V. Special Rooms.... 165 



249 1000 

It is understood that this community is planning for a school 
building which will not require the use of this structure over any 
extended period. Built in 1884, the building as it stands at present 
has little to commend it. Its faults are many and of such a nature as 
to provide many obstacles to the best physical and educational devel- 
opment of the children who are housed therein. Some of the faults 
of this building may be summarized in the following phrases : The 
entrance doors are not provided with a vestibule for protection and 
are not provided with door checks. This means that the stairway and 
halls are extremely difficult to heat on cold days. The two radiators, 
cutting off the stairway at the front entrance, are very dangerously 
placed. At no time should a school stairway be blocked in such a 
fashion. The stairways are not provided with handrails and are 
dangerous fire chutes. The doors of class rooms and cloak rooms in 
a number of instances open inward, which is a condition which has 
long been corrected in most school buildings, since such doors offer 
an immediate obstacle to the exit of children when rapid egress is 
necessary. The rooms are poorly lighted and the seats unscien- 
tifically arranged. In instances the children are required to sit with 
their backs toward the maximum source of light, the seats being 
arranged on the short rather than on the long axis of the room. The 
rooms are altogether too large for class-room purposes, requiring an 
over-abundance of heat in the winter months. The toilet arrange- 
ments are highly unsatisfactory, since the toilet rooms are poorly 
Hghted and the seats so recessed that no natural light or sunlight 
reaches them. The ceilings of these toilet rooms are only approxi- 
mately six feet high. Little provision has been made for the children 
for washing their hands during school hours. When children go to 

51 - 



the source of water provided, it means that they will wet their feet 
and clothes regardless of whatever precautions they may take. An 
insufficient number of toilet seats is furnished in both the boys' and 
the girls' toilet. The heating apparatus is poorly housed and entirely 
too small for the building. The arrangement in Newark whereby one 
janitor takes care of the heating apparatus of three buildings requires 
an excessive amount of time expenditure on the part of that janitor, 
and also reduces to a minimum the precautions that such janitor can 
take for providing against any fire danger in these school buildings. 
In the new structure this very objectionable situation will, of course, 
be eliminated. It was pleasing tO' note that the toilet rooms of this 
school had been whitewashed during the summer vacation, sO' that 
these rooms did present a wholesome appearance on the Saturday 
before school opened. It was also pleasing to note that the Newark 
schools were beginning to utilize the movable adjustable sea^. They 
had been installed in the primary room. 



OAK GROVE NO. ISO 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 130 160 

II. Building 149 200 

III. Service Systems 170 250 

IV. Class Rooms 172 225 

V. Special Rooms 44 165 



665 1000 

The Oak Grove School, located in Elsmere, is a new four-room, 
one-story rectangular type of brick building, with stone foundation, 
in excellent condition. This building, 46x74 feet in dimensions, 
located on a site much larger than is commonly found in the State of 
Delaware, is one of the very best school buildings in the State, and 
many of the improved standards in schoolhouse construction have 
been taken into consideration in the planning of the building. The 
site, though too small to meet the full requirements of modern stand- 
ards, is capable of extension and is so situated as to be easily devel- 

52 



oped. The plot is new, and as yet no extensive effort has been made 
to beautify or improve the grounds, but the situation evidences on the 
part of the community a disposition to have a very good school and 
surroundings ; therefore, will undoubtedly continue to improve. 
Trees should be planted, gardens and lawn plots developed, and 
walks put in where needed. The present board walks are not in 
keeping with the buildings and are evidently not intended to be per- 
manent in character. 

The building, being new, is in excellent condition and evidences 
good material and good workmanship throughout its entire construc- 




OAK GROVE SCHOOL 

tion. It is heated by direct steam, but no provision has been made 
for forced ventilation. Class rooms and corridors are lighted by 
electricity, but the number and arrangement of outlets are not suffi- 
cient to entirely meet the needs of the building for evening use for 
school purposes. Adequate provision is made for drinking facilities, 
but the number of wash basins is below standard and no provision is 
made for bathing. Indoor toilets, adequate in number, well fitted 
up, and especially clean and sanitary, were found in this building. In 
this respect the building stands out in marked contrast to almost 
every other school building in the State. 

The class rooms, with respect toi the corridors and entrances, are 



53 



well arranged. They are not, however, standard in size or shape, 
being somewhat narrower than is approved, and in the case of two 
rooms considerably undersized. The general appearance of the in- 
terior could be much improved by well-selected shades of paint or 
tinting. At the present time the walls are of new, rough-finish 
plaster. The glass area throughout the building is up to standard, 
but unfortunately the window placement has not been given careful 
consideration. In the case of two rooms, the windows extend entirely 
too far toward the front wall. This situation could be improved by 
the permanent closing or curtaining of the window nearest to the 
front. The small, high windows which are placed in the rear of two 
of the rooms should be permanently closed. The location of these 
high windows is extremely objectionable from the standpoint of the 
strain which it entails upon the teacher, who must face these 
windows throughout the entire day. 

Provision has been made for cloak rooms and wardrobes, but 
not of the approved type of teacher control, nor has each class room 
its independent coat room. This should have been arranged for in 
the original plan. Seats and desks are of excellent quality, single 
type, well selected as to sizes graded for pupils varying in age. 
Teachers' desks are good in quality, and the entire equipment is in 
excellent condition. 

This building is again unusual among those of Delaware in that 
it provides two excellent play rooms in the basement. The space is 
large, well lighted and well adapted for the purpose intended. Two 
of the class rooms are so arranged as to be thrown together by the 
removal of a folding partition. This arrangement makes a fairly 
satisfactory community and assembly room for the school. The 
rather low score on special rooms is due to the absence of library, 
lunch room, officials' room or any provision for the industrial or 
home-making arts. 

Under the contemplated consolidation of the school districts 
within the vicinity of Elsmere, this school' building should be con- 
tinued in service as a six-year school, providing very satisfactory 
accommodations for the first six grades. There is sufficient space 
within the building which by means of slight alterations could be 
utilized in such a way as to provide for a full, well-rounded educa- 
tional program for pupils of the grades named. 



54 



OCEAN VIEW NO. 28, 121 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 65 160 

II. Building 61 200 

III. Service Systems 24 250 

IV. Class Rooms 63 225 

V. Special Rooms......... 2 165 



' 215 1000 

This building is a four-room, two-story building on a brick 
foundation, located on a site of approximately half an acre. The site 
is inadequate and the building impossible of alteration to meet 
modern school standards. It is heated by comm.on stoves, and both 
the school building and outhouses are in a filthy and dirty condition. 
The class rooms are poorly equipped, the only commendable feature 
being the seats and desks, which are in good condition. The glass 
area is less than half of what it should be and the light is admitted 
into the rooms from, three sides. The location of this building with 
respect to neighboring districts is such that at some desirable point 
within the district a large consolidated school plant might readily be 
secured. 



ODESSA DISTRICT NO. 61, 6I/2 

Score Poisible Score 

I. Site 100 160 

II. Building 90 200 

III. Service Systems. 39 250 

IV. Class Rooms ......:.... 137 225 

V. Special Rooms 12 165 



378 1000 

The school building in Odessa is a two-story, three-teacher 
school of brick and plaster. It was erected in 1847, and while at 
that time it must have been an imposing structure, serving well the 

55 



needs for which it was built, it has outlived its usefulness as a 
school building and should be closed for such purposes. 

The grounds upon which the building is located are made 




ODESSA SCHOOL 



unusually beautiful by the large number of old maple trees that cover 
it. It seems a fitting suggestion that this grove be retained as a public 
park for the village and that a new and adequate school site be 
selected. 



REHOBOTH NO. Ill, 226 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 50 125 

II. Building 92 165 

III. Service Systems 68 280 

IV. Class Rooms 164 290 

V. Special Rooms 10 140 ' 



384 



1000 



50 



This building is a six-room, two-story brick structure, built in 
1908. It is in good condition externally, but is a cheap type of con- 
struction, with tin roof and unfinished basement. In planning the 
interior of the building no consideration has been given to the stand- 
ards of modern school architecture. The class rooms are irregular 
in shape, poorly arranged and lighted from two sides. The stairway 
and corridor arrangement is extremely bad and entails considerable 
fire risk. The opening through which the occupants of the three 
upper story rooms would have to pass in case of fire is but 41 inches 




REHOBOTH SCHOOL 

in width. This narrow, choked place in the corridor is between the 
opening into the stairway and the three doors leading from the 
class rooms. No fire escape is provided, and in consequence the only 
exit might easily be cut ofif. The building is heated by direct steam, 
but has no provision for forced ventilation. Electricity is installed, 
but provision for adequate illumination is not found. The outside 
toilets are both insanitary in their condition and vicious in their influ- 
ence through the very great amount of obscenity that has been 
written and pictured upon their walls. It will, in all probabiHty, be 
necessary to use this building for school purposes for some time, in 



57 



which case nothing short of a complete renovation of the building, 
excavation and improvement of the basement, additions of special 
robm and the installation of fire escapes will make the building 
acceptable. 




RICHARDSON PARK, DISTRICT 

Score 

I. Site :...... 68 

II. Building 53 

III. Service Systems 61 

IV. Class Rooms 81 

v.. Special Rooms 3 

266 



NO. 20 

Possible Scor€ 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



School children of Richardson Park are housed in one of the 
dirtiest, filthiest, darkest, most unsightly, unattractive old hovels 
to be found in the State of Delaware. A part of this building was 
constructed in 1780, and judging from its appearance at the time of 
the survey it had not been thoroughly cleaned out or repaired since 



58 



the time of its construction. The additions, which have apparently- 
been made from time to time, show Httle improvement or apprecia- 
tion of standards over those used at the time of the original con- 
struction. 

The site is a little, triangular spot, scarcely larger than the 
building itself. The building is heated by hot-air furnace, and 
throughout the entire structure there is no provision whatsoever 
against fire or panic disaster. Although a six-room building, hous- 
ing a comparatively large number of children, the toilet rooms are 
located outside the building and are comparable in their condition 
to the building itself. 

It is understood that plans are already under way whereby the 
children of Richardson Park will be afforded a modem school plant, 
in which case the present building will undoubtedly be abandoned, 
if not destroyed. 



ROXANA NO. 31, 119, 173 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 70 160 

II. Building 109 200 

III. Service Systems 46 250 

IV. Class Rooms 107 225 

V. Special Rooms. 3 165 



335 1000 

This building is a new, one-story, four-room frame structure on 
a concrete foundation. It is located on a site of an acre and a half 
to two acres of cleared ground in a beautiful pine forest. The site 
is not large enough to meet the standards approved for a school of 
this type, but is nevertheless much larger than is commonly found 
for the schools of the State of Delaware, and because of its setting 
is extremely attractive. It is unfortunate in some ways that expert 
advice was not sought in the planning of the building from the stand- 
point of its arrangement and lighting. The class rooms approxi- 
mate 18x22, and are, therefore, under size for the number of pupils 

59 



that will be required to attend. The lighting is not good, coming as 
n does from both left and rear of the pupils. The windows might 
easily have been banked on one side and standard lighting condi- 
tions met. One especially commendable feature of the building is 
found in the fact that the partitions between each adjoining pair of 
class rooms are so arranged as to be lifted, thus throwing the two 
rooms into one. This makes it possible for the building to render 
valuable service as a community center and to increase its usefulness 
in the district. 




ROXANA SCHOOL 

In order that the building approach an acceptable score it is 
recommended that additions be made, providing space for industrial 
arts, home economics, play room and library facilities. Such addi- 
tions could easily be made and a modern educational program be 
carried out. At the same time a heating plant should be installed 
to supplant the old box stoves which are now utiHzed for heating 
individual rooms of the building. The present building thus has 
possibilities of being made intO' a modern school, but only upon the 
condition that the above recommendations be carried out. 



60 




SELBYVILLE NO. 32, I08 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 75 160 

II. Building 79 200 

III. Service Systems 63 250 

IV. Class Rooms 123 225 

V. Special Rooms 7 165 



347 



1000 



The Selbyville School building is a seven-room, two-story 
frame building, comparatively new and in good condition. It is 
located on a site of approximately two acres, upon which nothing 
has been done to improve the general appearance or usefulness for 
school ends. The number of children attending the school justifies 
a much larger site, and a modern school program would require 
extensive development of the present site and proposed additions. 
The internal structure of the building has not been planned 
with any view to its use for school purposes. No evidence of modern 
standards of school building architecture is discernible in the size, 
shape or lighting of the rooms. Light is admitted from left and rear 
in some cases and right and rear in others. New single desks of 
good but non-adjustable type have been provided. Poor judgment. 



61 



however, has been used in the distribution of thij equipment. There 
is no variation in size of seats in any given room. Small children, 
therefore, are required to sit in seats of exactly the same size as 
average or large size children. This is a very serious criticism and 
seats should be shifted from one room to another until a sufficiently 
graded distribution is had to allow each pupil a seat that is adapted 
to his size. 

The stairway in the building is unsightly and out of all propor- 
tions and size to the needs of the building. Although it is not recom- 
mended that the stairway be changed at this time it seems feasible 
to point out that a tremendous amount of space was wasted in the 
construction of this stairway. The building is wired for electricity, 
but insufficient light is provided for any purpose other than to meet 
the needs of the janitor in cleaning the building. The building is 
heated by direct steams and in many respects is superior in service 
systems. Upon one element, however, it is extremely bad ; namely, 
that of fire protection. Although the building has a front and rear 
exit, and the stairway is wide enough to accommodate all the chil- 
dren if not cut off by fire belo/:, it seems advisable to suggest that a 
fire escape be placed on the outside of the building to m.eet an emer- 
gency arising through the blocking or destruction of the stairway. 

In order for the building to approach an acceptable score, it will 
be necessary for the community to provide an addition which will 
accommodate manual training and domestic science courses and 
indoor play space. This building is distinctive among the Delaware 
schools in that it has a fairly decent library room and an unusually 
large collection of good books available for pupils, under conditions 
which are entirely acceptable. 



TOWNSEND, DISTRICT NO. 81, 81%, 81% 

Score Possible Score 

L Site • 95 160 

II. Building 161 200 

III. Service Systems 62 250 

IV. Class Rooms 173 225 

V. Special Rooms 45 165 



536 1000 

62 



The Townsend building is a two-story, four-teacher school, 
approximately 64 feet x 42 feet, located on a site 150 feet by 135 
feet in a village of 500 population. The building is but three years 
old; is in good condition, and, in so^ far as its external appearance 
is concerned, it represents an admirable effort on the part of the 
community to provide a good school building for its children. 

The commission regrets to announce to the well-intentioned citi--^ 
zens of Townsend that their new building scores but 536 points out 
of 1000. While this is one of the highest scores recorded in the 
county, it might have been 300 to 400 points higher with compara- 
tively little additional cost. 




TOWNSEND SCHOOL 

Site. The school site is too' small to permit anything approach- 
ing adequate play space. To meet this difficulty, space should be 
added in two directions by purchasing the adjoining lots. Further 
addition should be made by securing an athletic field diagonally 
across the street intersection. This land is at present used as stock 
pastures. It undoubtedly could be secured at a reasonable cost and 
cruld be easily adapted for school purposes. 



63 



Building. On placement and gross structure, the building 
scores high. Reference to the detail score will show a low 
score on internal structure. The basement is well planned, being only- 
three feet below grade and sufficiently well lighted that it might be 
put to better use than at present. Fairly satisfactory rooms could 
be arranged for manual training and domestic science, and such 
action should certainly be taken. 

Service systems. On this major item the score is exceedingly 
low for a new building. This is due both to the inadequacy of certain 
features and the total absence of others. The heating plant (direct) 
is too small to heat the building, it being found necessary to dismiss 
school on cold days. The protection against life or property loss 
by fire is almost zero. There are no fire extinguishers, no fire hose, 
and only a wooden fire escape placed in an impossible position offers 
any hope of escape from the second floor should the stairway, which 
is directly over the boilers, become blocked. 

The fire box and heating equipment is in no way isolated or 
safeguarded. The joists are exposed to the heat of the boilers and 
the stairway is so located as to make rapid spread of fire possible. 

Although there is electric current in the town, the building is 
not wired and no means of artificial light is provided. The only 
water supply is by a well and pump located outside of the building. 

It was a surprise and disappointment to the commission to find 
that in a building so recently constructed the traditional policy of 
placing the toilets outside the building had been pursued. Not 
only were they outside, but no modern or sanitary measures had been 
taken in their construction to safeguard the community. No vaults 
have been provided nor have any chemicals been used. This faci; 
is all the more distressing when it is observed that the toilets are but 
25 feet from the windows of the class rooms, these same windows 
being the only means of ventilation in the building. 

Class rooms. The class rooms, satisfactory in size and shape, 
are without closet space and the walls are badly damaged as the 
result of very poor quality of plastering having been used. No 
attempt at tinting or decoration has been undertaken. The rooms 



64 



are lighted from two sides instead of having the same amount of 
glass banked on one side. 

Special rooms. Full credit was given for the auditorium, as 
it represented an earnest effort on the part of the community to pro- 
vide a good school and community assembly. The one most serious 
objection to this room is the absolute inadequacy of the exit. The 
room will seat comfortably 250 people, and the only means of 
entrance or exit is by means of a stairway, 39 inches wide, located 
in the center of one side of the room. A fire or panic in the audi- 
torium would result in the death of a great many people. The audi- 
torium should not be used for any purpose until adequate fire escapes 
are placed on the building, the same having doors cut to the floor 
level and provided with panic bolts. 

At present the entire basement is used for a play room. As such 
it serA-'^s a good purpose, but by proper partitions it could be made to 
?prve other purposes as well. 




THE ONLY EXIT FROM THE AUDITORIUM OF THE 
TOWNSEND SCHOOL 

This room, with a seating capacity of 250, is located on the 
second floor. The exit shown in the picture is 39 inches wide, and 
through it lies the only means of escape. It was stated locally that 
it takes froni twenty to thirty minutes to empty a "packed hall." 



65 




THE HEATING PLANT. SHOWING THE EXPOSED WOODEN 
JOISTS DIRECTLY UNDER THE STAIRWAY 



66 



Chapter Three 

Representative One -Room Buildings 
New Castle County 



CHAPTER III 
REPRESENTATIVE ONE-ROOM BUILDINGS 

NEW Castle County 

(The Survey Commission has made a zvritten, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the following pages are to be 
found descriptions of representative one-room buildings of Neiv 
Castle County.) 




CLINTON, DISTRICT NO. 28 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 71 160 

II. Building 63 200 

III. Service Systems 50 250 

IV. Class Rooms 125 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



312 



1000 



C9 



The Clinton School is a one-room, cobble-stone structure, 30x33 
feet in dimension, standing on a site 150 feet square. It presents a 
very unattractive external appearance, looks timeworn and gloomy. 
The addition of a full-length porch in front of the building and the 
partitioning off of cloak rooms at the entrance has added materially 
to the usefulness of the building for school purposes. It is, how- 
ever, both with respect to site, location and building, impossible of 
adaptation to modern school requirements and should, therefore, be 
disposed of for some purpose other than that for which it was long 
ago constructed. 




NORTH STAR, DISTRICT NO. 30 

Score Possible Score 

Site 95 160 

Building 79 200 

Service Systems 43 250 

Class Rooms 85 225 

Special Rooms 1 165 



303 



70 



1000 



North Star School is a one-room, brick or stone structure, with 
outside coat of concrete plaster. It is rectangular in shape and stands 
on a small plot approximately 60x100 feet in dimension. The build- 
ing was constructed in 1847, and although the building and grounds 
evidence considerable interest and attention on the part of the com- 
munity, it is not possible, because of its type and present condition, 
for it to be converted by any reasonable amount of alteration into an 
acceptable schoolhouse. 

The building is heated by a coal stove located in the center of 
the room, is not provided with any means of artificial light or drink- 
ing facilities of any kind. The toilets are extremely poor and are 
located within 15 feet of the windows of the class room. The equip- 
ment of the class room is meager and primitive in the extreme. The 
blackboards, for instance, are made of painted boards, and the 
windows are placed on three sides of the room. 

Obviously, this building should not be continued in use as a 
school. 



STANTON, DISTRICT NO. 38 

Score Possible Score 

Site 71 160 

Building 42 200 

Service Systems 50 250 

Class Rooms 116 225 

Special Rooms 1 165 



280 1000 

The Stanton School is an old stone, one-room blockhouse of un- 
known age. It is approximately 30x27 feet in dimension and located 
on a site 90x180. The outside of this building conforms very closely 
to that of a large number of like buildings in New Castle County, but 
the interior of the building stands out in striking contrast to the 
exterior and in striking contrast, also, to the interior of the majority 
of buildings like it. It was a pleasant surprise on entering this build- 
ing to discover that this old cave of a house had been made into a 

71 



bright, cheerful, livable sort of a schoolroom in which one would not 
feel adverse to having his own child attend school. Through the 
individual efforts of a heroically courageous teacher of unusual initi- 
ative and ability, this class roc in has been thus converted: the walls 
were beautifully tinted, bo dered and decorated. Good, attractive 
pictures were on the walls ; the floors were clean and well kept ; new 
single desks were provided for every child in the room^ and a gen- 
erous amount of equipmetit of the type possible in this building was 
at hand. Too much cannot be said in recognition of the kind of 
energy displayed in making this building come as close to being liv- 
able as possible. Such energy should be rewarded by a new and 
modern school building so located as to bring together enough pupils 
to make possible the development of an adequate school program. 



OGLETON, DISTRICT NO. 42 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 65 160 

II. Building 63 200 

III. Service Systenis 25 250 

IV. Class Rooms . .■ 73 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



229 1000 

Ogleton is another of the old, very old, stone blockhouses. It is 
also located on one of the proverbial triangular sites in the fork of 
the roads. It possesses no single attribute which justifies its use for 
housing children. It is dark and depressing on the inside and un- 
sightly from the outside. The toilets are in a very insanitary condi- 
tion, vilely defaced and located within ten feet of the class room 
windows, which are the only source of ventilation. It is a crime 

72 




OGLETON SCHOOL 

against innocent children to enforce compulsory attendance laws 
where such accommodations are all that the community has to offer-. 



EIGHT SQUARE, DISTRICT NO. 

Score 

I. Site 88 

II. Building 61 

III. Service Systems 38 

TV. Class Rooms . 50 

V. Special Rooms 3 

240 



57 

Possible Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



As a monument to a bygone age in education, "Eight Square" is 
a most interesting type of building. At a time when it was consid- 
ered essential to one's educational development that he be within 
easy reach of the master's rod, an octagonal room may have had 
peculiar advantages, but in the present era, when the angle at which 
the light falls upon the pupil is regarded as more important than 
the angle at which the rod falls, Eight Square is out of place as a 
school building. 



73 



The scores indicated above point to a very certain condemna- 
tion of the building on every major item of consideration. Refer- 
ence to the detail score, will show that the environment of the build- 




EIGHT SQUARE SCHOOL 



ing is the only commendable feature which it possesses. Because 
of its lighting features alone, if for no other, it should be closed for 
school purposes. 



JAMISON'S CORNER NO. 59 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 100 160 

II. Building 75 200 

III. Service Systems 40 250 

IV. Class Rooms 103 225 

V. Special Rooms ......... 2 165 

320 1000 

The slightly higher score of this building is due not so much to 
the building itself as to the fact that good roads make it accessible 
and that there is some evidence of effort to improve the environ- 



74 




JAMISON'S CORNER SCHOOL 

merit. A painted fence in good condition adds much to the general 
appearance. The building is so small and so nearly square that the 
problem of heating becomes very serious. As the seats are located 
and the stove placed, children are compelled to sit within 16 inches 
of the fire bowl of the coal stove that occupies the center of the 
room. Twelve new adjustable single seats and an excellent teacher's 
desk adds to the appearance of the equipment, but the fact that 
the room is lighted from three sides and that it does not qualify in 
any major items of consideration condemns its further use. 



HICKORY GROVE NO. 

Score 

I. Site 95 

II. Building 72 

III. Service Systems 46 

IV. Class Rooms 113 

V. Special Rooms 2 

328 



64 



Possible Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



Approaching the Hickory Grove School one passes the Govern- 
ment range light station. Thinking in terms of the service to be ren- 



75 



dered by the two institutions, one wonders at the extreme contrast 
that exists. The lighthouse serves to guide ships aright, giving them 
their bearings and insuring their successful voyage. The little school 
has a similar mission in the world, except that the objects of its 
interest are the children who are to become America's citizens. The 
buildings and grounds of the lighthouse are most beautifully kept. 
The buildings are models of artistic beauty. The grounds are gardens 



■k 


M 


^T'i^PPP^^^^^^^^ 


^«'i;::;J.---.-/.^;::^':^r-:. 







HICKORY GROVE SCHOOL 



of flowers, grass and trees. A tall, inspiring flagpole carries an 
enormous flag — the flag that is supposed to float over a land in which 
equality of opportunity is the right of all. 

Almost in the shadow of this flag stands the Hickory Grove 
School that scores, in point of adequacy, 328 points out of a possible 
1000. No flag floats over it, nor has any provision been made that it 
might do so. A meager little site, the size of a town lot, offers little 
opportunity for the recreational needs of the children. The class 
rocm is lighted from^ three sides and heated by a stove placed in the 
center of the room 




RANGE LIGHT AT HICKORY GROVE SCHOOL 



FIELDSBORO, DISTRICT NO. 65 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 110 160 

11. Building 45 200 

III. Service Systems 21 250 

IV. Class Rooms.... 63 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



241 



1000 



The Fieldsboro School is a rectangular frame building, with 
vestibule entrance, located on an excellent highv/ay in a beautiful 
grove of trees. The two latter features are the only commendable 



points the building has. The building proper scores but 45 points 
in 200. The service systems are even lower in score than the very 
low score set by other buildings of the same general type. The class 




FIELDSBORO SCHOOL 



room has nothing to recommend its further use. It is lighted from 
four sides. The blackboards are so poor as to score but 2 points 
out of 15 and the seats and desks but 2 in 30. The building should 
be closed and the children transported to a better building. 



78 




BLACKBIRD, DISTRICT NO. 69 

Score Possible Sc 

I. Site 55 160 

II. Building 51 200 

III. Service Systems 16 250 

IV. Class Rooms 65 225 

V. Special Rooms 1 165 



188 



1000 



Site. Unattractive, unimproved and unkept. Approximately 
100 feet square, it is too small for any profitable use. 

Building. Small, very old and in a deplorable state of repair. 

Service systems. An attempt to heat the building is made by 
means of a small stove located in the center of the room. The open 
cracks in the doors, windows and walls make this impossible to such 
a degree that in cold weather school has to be dismissed. The build- 
ing is in a filthy dirty condition. There is no clock in the building 
and a water pail is all the evidence of a water supply system. One 
toilet was without a toilet seat. The scholars had made use of the 
floor of the toilet room and the fuel shed for toilet purposes. 

Class room. Seatings, if the carved and mutilated double 



79 



benches can be rated as seatings, are provided for 45 children in a 
room 18x27. In order to get this number of seats in it has been nec- 
essary to place the seats squarely against the walls on both sides of 
the room. This arrangement precludes the possibility of side aisles 
or the use of the side walls for blackboard space. The accompany- 
ing picture shows the lighting conditions which the children so 
seated are compelled to suffer. The survey commission wishes to 
place special emphasis upon the recommendation that this building 
be closed. 




SHELLPOT NO. 73 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 85 160 

II. Building 87 '200 

III. Service Systems . 66 250 

IV. Class Rooms 93 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



334 



1000 



80 



This building is a one-story, two-room structure, approximate- 
ly 20x50 feet in dimensions, located on a triangular site in a fork of 
the road. It is a stone building, constructed in 1798. In the construc- 
tion of the building, undoubtedly permanency was given much more 
serious consideration than any of the elements which enter into a 
school building. Upon this point one is compelled to say that the 
early settlers built entirely too well. Had the building been less sub- 
stantially made it might have tumbled down something more than 
half a century ago and given place tO' a structure conceived in the 
light of educational demands of a more significant character. 

The most commendable feature of the Shellpot School is the 
very conspicuous evidence of the fact that the community has 
endeavored to make the very best of a very bad situation. Improved 
types of heaters have been installed in both class rooms, and the 
entire building and surroundings have been made as attractive and 
comfortable as possible. New single seats have been installed in 
the class rooms and everything about the building is neat and tidy in 
appearance. It is unfortunate that so much energy and effort have 
been directed upon this old, impossible building. It seems entirely 
reasonable, however, that the spirit evidenced in connection with 
this building will, under the circumstances which now exist in the 
State of Delaware, lead to the consolidation of this district with 
neighboring districts and the construction of a large, new, pro- 
gressive and efficient school plant. 



MILL LANE, DISTRICT NO. 92 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 82 160 

II. Building 54 200 

III. Service Systems 36 250 

IV. Class Rooms 70 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 

244 1000 

81 



The Mill Lane building is 18 feet square, seating 16 pupils, and 
located on a little triangular plot of land in the fork of the road. It 
does not fly the American flag. It is heated by a stove in the center 




MILL LANE SCHOOL 



of the room, makes no provision for drinking and washing. The 
toilet facilities are of the poorest type and in bad condition. The 
room is lighted from four sides. 



82 



Chapter Four 

Representative Two -Room Buildings 

New Castle County 



CHAPTER iV 

representative two-room buildings 
New castle County 

[The Survey Commission has made a written, detailed report 
to the Service Citisens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the following pages are to be 
found descriptions of representative two-room, buildings of New 
Castle County.^ 




SHARPLEY, DISTRICT NO. 7 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 113 160 

11. Building 138 200 

TTT. Service Systems 54 250 

IV. Class Rooms 125 225 

\'. Special Rooms 3 165 



433 



1000 



8.5 



The Sharpley School is a two-room, one-story brick building on 
a stone foundation that was constructed in 1915. It is approximate- 
ly 27x46 in dimension, located on a site 90x150. The site, although 
entirely too small, is made attractive by the large number of beauti- 
ful shade trees. ■ 

The building proper is in good condition, attractive in appear- 
ance, but poorly designed when considered in the light of a school 
building. The building is heated by indirect steam heating system, 
with heating plant located in the basement. The heating plant is not 
isolated or inclosed so as to safeguard the building or the pupils 
therein against fire risks. Although comparatively new, the build- 
ing at the time of the survey was extremely dirty and evidenced very 
little attention. The only water supply is a well located in a well 
house on the school grounds. At the time the building was visited 
this well house was also in a filthy, dirty condition. The toilets are 
of the outside type, built of brick with vault, but have evidently not 
been cleaned out in recent months. 

Class rooms are approximately standard in size, but not 
arranged to best advantage. The glass area is sufficient, but the 
window placement is extremely bad, the light being admitted from 
three sides. Desks and other equipment are of slightly better quality 
and in better condition than buildings of corresponding type in the 
State. 

Under the proposed plan of consolidation, it seems advisable 
that this building be disposed of and the children that normally 
attend here be transported to a consolidation center in the vicinity of 
Tallyville. The roads and number of pupils to be accommodated 
in such a center make the problem comparatively simple and entire- 
ly practicable. 



86 




ROCKLAND, DISTRICT NO. 8 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site ....110 160 

II. Building 93 200 

III. Service Systems 53 250 

IV. Class Rooms 107 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



366 



1000 



This building is a two-room, one-story, stone structure, erected 
in 1831. Considering its age, it is in a fair state of repair and evi- 
dences a very commendable spirit on the part of the community to 
make of it the best possible school accommodations. The building 
and grounds are neat, clean and, in so far as possible, attractive. 
The site, triangular in shape and ill-adapted to recreational needs, 
is nevertheless pleasing in general effect, due to the large shade 
trees that surround the building. 

Provision for the health and comfort of the children attending 
this building are of the meagerest possible type and cannot be made 
adequate in this building. 

In the light of the new educational program in the State of 



87 



Delaware, this building should be abandoned for school purposes, 
and the children heretofore attending this school should be trans- 
ported to the proposed large consolidation near Tallyville. 




MONTCHANIN, DISTRICT NO. 

Score 

I. Site 83 

II. Building 110 

III. Service Systems 83 

IV. Class Rooms 92 

V. Special Rooms 4 



372 



24 

Possible Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



This is a new, two-room, two-story, stone building. It is very 
attractive in external appearance, located on a little triangular plot 
of ground approximately 150x200 feet, lying between the main stone 
highway and the railroad. The site is very poorly chosen, impos- 
sible of extension or improvement to meet school needs ; and the 



88 



building except for its attractive exterior, offers absolutely no 
evidence of any knowledge of schoolhouse construction. It is un- 
fortunate that a community should have so recently invested good 
money in a building which is so poorly adapted to a purpose for 
which it was intended. 

The heating system of the building is of good type. The 
rooms are clean, well-kept, and drinking water is supplied from a 
well located on the school grounds. The toilets, though of the out- 
side type, are in better condition and generally more acceptable than 
those commonly found in the State of Delaware. 

The class room lighting is the most serious charge to be brought 
against this building, pupils receiving light from four sides — right, 
left, front and rear. The glass area in the room on the second floor 
is very low, and the windows are of the boxed-in dormer type, ad- 
mitting very little light into the class room. 

Regardless of the fact that this building is new and represents 
a substantial investment on the part of the community, it should be 
disposed of, possibly for residential purposes, and the children of 
the community housed in a new, modern school structure. 



BRANDYWINE SPRINGS, DISTRICT NO. 33 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 74 160 

IL Building 131 200 

III. Service Systems 86 250 

IV. Class Rooms 146 225 

V. Special Rooms 4 165 



449 1000 

This is a new one-story, two-room, brick building, located on a 
somewhat larger triangular site than is commonly allotted to rural 
school buildings in the State of Delaware. The site is joined on 
one side and in the rear by dense woods and has not been improved 
or developed for recreational purposes in any way. The building is, 
however, in good condition and possesses the possibilities of being 

89 



made into an excellent two-teacher, six-year school. In order for 
this building to meet the standards required for such a school, and 
in order for its score to be made acceptable, it will be necessary for 
the present site to be materially extended, developed and improved. 
Playground and recreational apparatus should be installed; the 
outdoor toilets should be done away with, and space be provided 
inside for water-flush or chemical toilets. 




BRANDYWINE SPRINGS SCHOOL 

A direct steam-heating system has already been installed in this 
building, and with the addition of adequate artificial light and a, 
water supply system, together with the proposed inside toilets, the 
score on service systems would approach a satisfactory minimum. 

The class rooms, although better in many respects than those 
found in the older buildings, still do not recognize the importance of 
the best light — the light now being admitted from three sides. This 
error should be corrected if the building is to be continued in 
service. 



90 




ST. GEORGE'S, DISTRICT NO. 53 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 95 160 

II. Building 55 200 

III. Service Systems 51 250 

IV. Class Rooms 153 225 

V. Special Rooms 4 165 



358 



1000 



The St. George's School is a very old, two-room, two-story, 
frame structure, with tin roof and brick foundation, located on a 
site approximately 180x120 feet. The site is too small to meet the 
needs of this rather large group of children, and because of adjoin- 
ing village residences; the site is difficult of adequate expansion. 

The building is heated by stoves, and supplies little or nothing 
beyond the most meager facilities to provide for the physical com- 
fort of the children. 

Class rooms are poor, and except for the new double seats sup- 
plied in the upstairs room and the good quality blackboards, the 
class rooms have little more to offer than the service systems. 

It is not consistent with the modern educational policy that the 
■children of this community be housed continuously in a building 



91 



which provides nothing more than is possible in this structure. It 
should, therefore, be disposed of and a plant adequate to the needs 
of the community and large enough to justify a complete educa- 
tional-recreational program supplied. 




YORKLYN, NO. 91 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 78 160 

II. Building 83 200 

III. Service Systems 71 250 

IV. Class Rooms 129 225 

V. Special Rooms 10 165 



371 



1000 



92 



The Yorklyn School is housed in a very old two-room, two- 
story brick and plaster structure located on the side of a steep hill 
and surrounded by many large, beautiful old trees. More by way 
of commendation can be said of the trees than of any other part of 
the school plant. The site, because of its location on the side of a 
hill, is impossible of use in the development of a recreational and 
educational program. The building was constructed long before any 
notion of educational standards in building construction had been 
developed. In the light of this fact, the building is entirely inade- 
quate for modern needs, and as a school building it should be closed. 
The building does, however, have to its credit a system of direct 
heating and an inside water supply system, with drinking fountain, 
has been installed. The toilets are located on the high ground above 
the building, but some measure of protection has been taken by the 
construction of fairly adequate toilet vaults. The Yorklya district 
cannot afford, from an educational point of view, not to seriously 
consider the consolidation of their district with that of Hockessin 
and two or possibly three other neighboring districts, for the purpose 
of constructing a large educational center at some point conve- 
niently located with respect to the districts concerned. 



98 



Chapter Five 

Representative One -Room Buildings 
Kent County 



chapter v 

Representative One-Room Buildings 
KENT County 

(The Survey Commission has made a written, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the follozving pages are to be 
found descriptions of representative one-room buildings of Kent 
County.) 




BLACKISTONS NO. I 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 7S 160 

II. Building 67 200 

III. Service Systems 67 250 

IV. Class Rooms 87 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



291 



1000 



97 



This school building is a one-story frame structure that was 
built in 1881. It may have answered the demands of education 
at that time, but recent years have seen rapid progress in the require- 
ments upon rural school buildings. It is, therefore, imperative that 
if the district of Blackistons is to keep pace with educational prog- 
ress it is necessary for it to abandon this building and construct a 
new one. The service systems and equipment are in keeping with 
the rest of the building and should be cast aside at the same time 
as the rest of the building. 




FAIR VIEW NO. 15 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 95 160 

II. Building 54 200 

III. Service Systems... 63 250 

IV. Class Rooms 82 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



296 



1000 



98 



This building is a one-room, rectangular frame structure, 
located on a site 100x150 feet in a beautiful grove of oak trees, sur- 
rounded by open fields. The site, except for size, is the most com- 
mendable feature of the plant. Little attention has been given to the 
comforts and the physical needs of the children, and the class room 
is extremely poor. As typical evidence of this neglect it was noted 
by the Commission that the only blackboard area in the class room 
was placed in the rear of the room. Similar lack of foresight and 
knowledge of educational needs is evidenced throughout the plant. 
Should this location be agreed upon as the logical one for a school 
building, the present site should be extended to include a number of 
acres of the adjoining fields and the grove preserved as a school 
park and a community ground. 



SANDTOWN NO. 23 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 44 160 

II. Building 73 200 

III. Service Systems 70 250 

IV. Class Rooms 71 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



261 1000 

The Sandtown School is a one-room, frame structure, 18x28 
feet, in fairly good condition, located on a site almost surrounded by 
dense woods. The location of the building on a shell road adds 
much to its accessibility, but the nature of its surroundings makes 
the extension of the present site undesirable. The building itself 
cannot be altered to provide amply for a modern educational pro- 
gram, and at the earliest possible date should be turned to some other 

99 




SANDTOWN SCHOOL 



account and a new building constructed on modern lines at some 
more desirable place. 



PETERSBURG NO. 24 

Score 

I. Site 88 

II. Building 90^ 

III. Service Systems 82 

IV. Class Rooms 100 

V. Special Rooms 3 

363 

100 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



i 



The Petersburg School is a comparatively new frame building 
with a well arranged vestibule, double entrance and concrete steps 
and walk. The building is in excellent repair, well painted, and the 
grounds are made as attractive as their size and form will permit. 
The site is, however, most unfortunately chosen, being, as it is, a 




PETERSBURG SCHOOL 

long thin triangle, with a base of fifty feet and length of approxi- 
mately 300 feet. A neatly constructed well house with concrete 
base and drainage, with a new pump, placed conveniently near 
the entrance, adds much to the service and appearance of the build- 
ing. The outhouses are in good repair and well kept. The class 
room, which is too small, being 22x22, is poorly shaped and not 
well adapted to the purposes for which it is intended. The wooden 



ici 



blackboards are a distinct contrast to the evident interest taken in 
the external appearance of the building. The glass area is slightly 
below standard, and the light is admitted from two sides of the 
room, which is contrary to the best lighting practice of today. The 
children of the community are entitled to the services of a building 
which will meet more satisfactorily their educational needs. 



PINE GROVE NO. 44 

Score Perfect Score 

L Site 61 160 

II. Building 55 200 

III. Service Systems 25 250 

IV. Class Rooms 85 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



229 1000 

The old hand-made seats to be found in Pine Grove School are 
extremely unique. Much of the furniture in this building is of the 
type that could be found in a school a century ago. The irregular 
plot of ground, the flagpole without a rope and the building equip- 
ment limiting children in their educational opportunities merely in- 
dicate a type of school situation which should be eliminated from 
Delaware as rapidly as possible. 



CEDAR GROVE NO. 62 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 26 160 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems ....... 36 250 

IV. Class Rooms 79 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 

176 1000 

102 



The site selected for this school is even more undesirable than 
the common run of undesirable sites in the county. It has about 
every undesirabe feature possible. It is surrounded on two sides 
by low, swampy ground, is triangular in shape, and standing, as it 
does, on a little knoll, it has been washed so that there is no part 
of the surface that is not covered with deep gullies. It is obvious, 




CEDAR GROVE SCHOOL 

therefore, that there is no space anywhere except upon the road 
which passes by, in which children can play. The building is 
extremely old and in very bad condition. Little financial loss 
will be entailed in the complete abandonment of the entire plant. It 
vv^ill be noted from the detailed score on this building that it ranks 
among the lowest in the entire county. One of the toilets at this 
school, which apparently has not been cleaned out in years and which 
in consequence is extremely foul smelling, stands within fifteen feet 
of the windows of the classroom. This, together with the fact that 
the only provision for ventilation is through the windows of the 
building makes it a matter of very grave concern to the comfort 
and health of the children housed within. 



1G3 




WESTVILLE NO. 69 

Score 

I. Site 55 

II. Buildipg 4S 

III. Service Systems 66 

IV. Class Rooms 77 

V. Special Rooms 2 

248 



Perfect Score 
160 
20Q 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Westville school is a little one*room, frame building, 18x 
18, located on a rectangular site 100x150 feet. The building, which 
is not old, is in a fair state of repair, and in so far as possible, an 
effort has been made to adapt it to, what in the past, has been 



104 



regarded as adequate school needs. The very size, however, of the 
building condemns it as a school building, and as such it should be 
abandoned at once. The light area of the class room is low and 
poorly placed, there being but four windows, two on either side of 
the room. 




L 
11. 

in. 

IV. 



HOLLANDSVILLE NO. 87 

Score 

Site 45 

Building 47 

Service Systems 66 

Class Rooms 72 

Special Rooms 1 

231 



Perfect Score 

160 
J 200 
250 
225 
160 



1000 



The Hollandsville school is of the typical, rectangular, frame 
building type. It has a vestibule and protected entrance. The 
building is old and in very bad physical condition throughout. The 
entire situation at this building, from site to special rooms, is such 



105 



as to justify the urgent recommendation that the citizens of this 
community take immediate steps to provide an adequate school plant 
for the education of their children. No single feature of the build- 
ing approaches a satisfactory standard. 




POTASH NO. 100 

Score 

I. Site 31 

II. Building 52 

III. Service Systems 59 

IV. Class Rooms 75 

V. Special Rooms 1 

218 



Perfect Score 

160 

2'00 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



This building would delight the soul of the spread-eagle senator 
who would rise to dizzy heights of oratory in reciting to his con- 
stituents the blessings of the "Little, old, red schoolhouse in the 
lane." It answers the description of that traditional institution in 



1C6 



every detail except that a modern heater has been installed. It is 
located in a dense woods and all of the little tract of land which at 
one time was cleared for the school building has grown up in dense 
briar and small underbrush. Aside from exciting the type of 
oratory above mentioned the schoolhouse of this type does not serve 
adequately any of the purposes for which modern school buildings 
are erected. It should be abandoned at once and the children trans- 
ported to more suitable quarters. 




FOREST LANE NO. 104 

Score 

I. Site 70 

II. Building 60 

III. Service Systems 46 

IV. Class Rooms 70 

V. Special Rooms 2 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



248 



1000 



107 



The only commendable feature of this building is the beautiful 
grove of trees in which the building stands. This feature would be 
extremely desirable were the site extended to include the cleared 
space upon which recreational activities of the school children might 
be had. In the present situation, however, there is little room for 
games of any sort. The building is heated by a box wood stove, and 
all of the equipment and facilities in and about the building evidence 
the most abject poverty conceivable. In the opinion of the Survey 
Commission there is no justification in compelling children, under 
penalty of the law, to attend a school building which provides noth- 
ing more than is foui d in this building. It should be abandoned for 
school purposes. 




MARYDEL NO. 115 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 62 . 160 

II. Building 74 200 

III. Service Systems 71) 250 

IV. Class Rooms 105 225 

\ . Special Rooms 3 165 



317 



lOOO 



108 



The Marydel school is a rectangular, one-room, frame building, 
18x33, located on a site 60x100. The site is located on the top of 
a knoll which slopes off abruptly into marshy ground in three direc- 
tions, thus making it impossible of extension or adaptation to school 
needs. The building is very old and in poor state of repair. The 
class room is slightly better than that in other buildings of its gen- 
eral type, but scores only 105 out of 225 points. Building and site 
should be abandoned for school purposes. 



PLEASANT HILL NO. 129 

Score Perfect Sccre 

L Site 92 160 

IL Building 77 200 

III. Service Systems 65 250 

IV. Class Rooms 63 225 

V. Special Rooms 5 165 



302 1000 

The Pleasant Hill structure was erected, acccrdirig to the date 
appearing on the building, in 1884. It is the type of building that 
one might expect to find bearing that date. It is in no sense a mod- 
ern school structure. There is no evidence of any activity being 
engaged in by the pupils outside of the formal school work. The 
flagstaff lacks its halyards, the outhouses and fuel house are in only 
fair condition, and the playground is irregular in shape and of such 
a nature that most group games are impossible. W/ithin a distance 
of approximately a mile from the school one finds Barrett's Chapel 
graveyard, a model from the standpoint of appearance and upkeep. 
The contrast between the home for the living and the abode for the 
dead is indeed marked, and is a reflection upon the community spirit 
of this section. 



109 



Chapter Six 

Representative Two-Room Buildings 
Kent County 



CHAPTER VI 

representative two-room buildings 
Kent County 

[The Survey Convmission has made a un^itten, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington) . In the following pages are to be 
found descriptions of representative two-room buildings of Kent 
County.} 




HARTLY SCHOOL 



11.- 



Score 


Perfect Score 


90 


160 


60 


^0 


60 


250 


100 


225 





165 



HARTLY NO. 96, 133% 

I. Site 

II. Building 

III. Service Systems . . . 

IV. Class Rooms 

V. Special Rooms 



310 1000 

The Hartly School is housed in a very old two-story, two-room, 
frame building, in poor condition. The building is located on a 
very undesirable, unattractive site. The improved type of heater, 
thirty-eight new single seats and the good pictures which have been 
secured for the building represent its only commendable features. 
The number of children in attendance at this school would seem to 
justify the recommendation that a more adequate provision be made 
for a modern educational program. 



CANTERBURY NO. 26 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site ,135 160 

II. Building 79 200 

III. Service Systems 60 250 

IV. Class Rooms 95 225 

V. Special Rooms 5 165 



374 1000 

This two-story, two-room structure is located on an open rec- 
tangular lot which can be used for play purposes. The interior of 
the building would be a disgrace to any community. Plaster has 
been broken from the walls in many places ; blackboards have been 

114 



torn down ; furniture roughly treated, and the roof has leaked in 
places. Apparently no respect is paid to public school buildings by 




CANTERBURY SCHOOL 



the school children of this community, and probably this building 
with its equipment and cheap construction is entitled to little respect. 
The building has no attractive feature about it. 



115 




BETHESDA NO. 46 

Score 

I. Site 80 

II. Building 67 

III. Service Systems 39 

IV. Class Rooms 105 

V. Special Rooms 4 



295 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



This is a two-room, one-story, frame building, located on a 
triangular site, the base of which is 100 feet, and the length of which 
is approximately 200 feet. The building is very old and poorly pre- 
served. It offers the absolutely minimum of room space, and the 
service systems are of the lowest type which will permit of the 
assembling of children in groups. The class rooms are inadequately 
equipped, and the lighting arrangements are especially bad, one room 
being lighted from three sides. The fuel room, which from an edu- 
cational point of view is perhaps the least essential, is the best 
feature of the building. 



116 




VIOLA NO. 112 

Score 

I. Site 86 

II. Building 117 

III. Service Systems 91 

IV. Class Rooms 132 

V. Special Rooms 2 



428 



Perfect Score 
160 

200 

250 

225 

165 



1000 



The Viola School is a one-story, two-room, brick building, con- 
structed in 1910. In external appearance it expresses the desire on 
the part of the local community to provide a building adequate to 
their educational needs. Citizens who have taken pride in this 
building will no doubt be disappointed at the low score above. The 
only explanation that can be given for this score is the fact that 
,poor judgment was used in drawing the plans. The interior of the 
building is sufficient proof that the architect knew absolutely noth- 
ing of modern educational demands upon a school plant, and in the 
construction of the building planned little beyond the traditional 
equipment. The school site of one acre is somewhat larger than 
most of the sites encountered in the State, but is far short of the 



117 



actual needs and is undeveloped for recreational purposes. The 
building is cheaply constructed and certain very fundamental errors 
are outstanding. The foundation walls are but eight inches thick, 
and standing as they do in soil that is partially quicksand the build- 
ing has settled out of line and considerable damage has already been 
done to the walls and building. 

The ceilings and walls of the class rooms are made of pressed 
steel, which, without backing of any insulating material, permits the 
heat from the room to escape readily, making it impossible to heat 
the building in cold weather. The basement, which is only partially 
excavated, is too low to be utilized for any purpose other than the 
heating plant. Had the building been raised so' as to have permitted 
adequate lighting the basement space would have been as usable 
for school purposes as any other part of the building. Play rooms 
or Manual Training and Domestic Science space might have been 
thus provided with very little additional expense. At the time of 
the survey water was standing in the basement to the depth of a foot 
or mor-e, covering the heater above the doors of the fire box. 

The building is provided with inside chemical toilets, which are 
in fair condition and apparently sanitary. It is to be noted, how- 
ever, that but one toilet is provided for each sex. This, for a school 
of two large rooms is not sufficient to meet the needs of the pupils. 
The only way in which this building can be made tO' approach accept- 
able standards is by considerable alteration and extension of the 
building proper and development of the site upon which the build- 
ing stands. 



118 



chapter seven 

Representative One-Room Buildings 
Sussex County 



CHAPTER VII 

REPRESENTATIVE ONE- ROOM BUILDINGS 
SUSSEX COUNTY 

(The Survey Commission has made a mritten, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the follozving pages are to he 
found descriptions of representative one-roomie buildings of Sussex 
County.) 




WHITES CHAPEL NO. 10 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 97 160 

II. Building 41 200 

III. Service Systems 60 250 

IV. Class Rooms 94 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



294 



1000 



121 



Whites Chapel is a new one-room structure, 20x22 in dimen- 
sions, with vestibule. It stands on a brick foundation. The site 
upon which the building is located is irregular in shape, approxi- 
mately 100 feet in width and 300 feet in length. This building is a 
very unusual type of school building. It is made completely, walls 
and roof, out of corrugated, unpainted iron and resembles a garage 
rather than a place in which children are to receive their educational 
training. It does not speak well for the attitude of the community 
towards education or the welfare of their children. Apparently it 
is the cheapest type of construction which could be found. An im- 
proved type of heater is located in this building and water is sup- 
plied by a pump located in the vestibule. The class roomi, which 
seats 32' pupils, is entirely too small and of unapproved shape. The 
glass area is up to standard but distributed on three sides of the 
room. The vestibule provides space for cloak rooms, but as such 
is not acceptable. 

The toilet accommodations of this building are located an un- 
reasonable distance from the building, one of them being nO' less 
than 200 feet away. This building should be disposed of for other 
purposes than education and consolidation perfected with neighbor- 
ing districts allowing for a modern educational program. 



CEDAR GROVE NO. 17 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 65 160 

II. Building .....:........ 103 200 

III. Service Systems 87 250 

IV. Class Rooms 107 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



365 1000 

This building is a comparatively new one-story frame structure, 
with good steps and porch leading to the entrance, and with vesti- 
bule, and cloak room arrangements across the front of the room. 
A,n attempt has been made in this building to recognize certain fun- 

122 



damental standards of lighting, but the end desired has been de- 
feated by the placing of small windows in the front of the class 
room, thus compelling the children to face the Hght. As long as it 
is necessary for this building to continue in use, these windows in 
the front end of the room should be permanently closed. The win- 
dows on the main axis of the room are fifty inches from the floor, 
thus giving the class room a shut-in effect. Obviously the intention 
was to prevent the children from seeing out during school hours. 
This policy is a remnant of the early tradition that schools should 
be houses of correction rather than institutions of learning and 
education. The glass area in the class room is less than ten per 
cent of the floor area, which is less than one-half of what it should 
be. Another interesting feature of the construction of this new 
building is found in the location of the hooks for the children's 
wraps in the cloak rooms. The lowest hook in either room is sev- 
enty-two inches from the floor, thus making it difficult, if not impos- 
sible, for many of the children to hang up their wraps. The loca- 
tion of the hooks seems to have been determined by the convenience 
of the carpenter rather than from any consideration of the needs 
of the children. This building would make a better tool shed or 
farm building of similar nature than schoolhouse, and should be 
disposed of for such purpose. 



ELDORADO NO. 19 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 60 160 

II. Building 60 200 

III. Service Systems 41 250 

IV. Class Rooms 94 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



258 1000 

This building, 18x28, situated on a site of indeterminate area, 
has concrete steps leading to its front door. The floor of this build- 
ing is poor, the shades in bad condition but excellent book and sup- 

123 



ply closets are provided. Provisions for seating 40 children in 
double seats were found. The teacher's desk was of a fair type and 
slate blackboard is provided in sufficiency. No clock and no pictures 
were to be found. The building has a sufficient amount of window 
area, half of which, however, is in the wrong place. The only out- 





ELDORADO SCHOOL 

house for this school is a combination of two compartments, sepa- 
rated by a wood partition, each one of which was apparently de- 
signed for the different sexes. That such a combination of out- 
houses is not a desirable method of raising the moral tone of chil- 
dren, nor of teaching them sex education was quite evident from the 
obscene drawings and foul language with which the interior of these 
outhouses was coated. 



.124 




HILL'S NO. 21 

Score 

I. Site 45 

II. Building 35 

III. Service Systems 30 

IV. Class Rooms 48 

V. Special Rooms 3 

161 



Perfect Score 

160 

200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Hill's school is situated in a little clearing with forest to 
the right, rear and front, and an open field to the left. It is a 
whitewashed, shingle structure which is decaying rapidly. It has 
a roof of .corrugated metal and a foundation of rotting wooden 
posts. The room is square, being approximately 18 feet each way, 
and is lighted by two windows on each of three sides. Even though 
lighted on three sides and even though the room is small, these six 
windows do not furnish more than half of the percentage between 
the window area and floor area that is considered to be the standard. 
A box wood stove, without jacket, is located toward the front center 
of the room. The seats are placed on stilts and occupy a large part 
of the class room. The floor is in fair condition, but only a distance 



125 



of seven feet separates it from the ceiling. No flag or flagpole has 
been provided. The outhouses have been constructed v^ith a mini- 
mum of labor and the minimum of expenditure for lumber. The 
children who attend this building should be provided with better 
educational facilities at the earliest possible moment. 



WHITE'S NECK NO. 27 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 45 160 

II. Building 112 200 

III. Service Systems 78 250 

IV. Class Rooms .....118 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



355 1000 

This is a new, one-room, rural school frame building which evi- 
dences some knowledge of the problems involving modern school- 
house construction. It is large enough to provide adequately for a 
single class room. The outstanding feature of the building is the 
fact that the windows have been banked on one side of the room. 
Unfortunately, however, either those who were responsible for the 
planning, or the carpenters who were responsible for the building, 
could not persuade themselves that light from one side was suffi- 
cient, for after making a good job they spoiled it utterly by sticking 
in two windows high up in the end of the class room. These win- 
dows should be closed. Another interesting fact in connection with 
the arrangement of this room is that although having a near ap- 
proach to unilateral lighting it was not taken advantage of in the 
placing of the seats and desks. All of the seats have been backed 
to the light so that absolutely no advantage of the unilateral type of 
lighting is had and the extreme disadvantage of rear light only is 
encountered. 

The seats in this class room should be faced so as to allow the 
light to fall on the pupils' desks from the left, and the windows in 
the rear should be closed. 

126 



The site upon which this new building is located is extremely 
unattractive, due to the fact that it is not only surrounded by, but 
grown up with, scrubby oak bushes. A much larger area should 
be cleared and improved. Additions should be made to the building 
providing adequate space for manual training and domestic science, 
playroom and library facilities. When this is done the children of 
the Muddy Neck district will have a school building which will 
approach satisfactory standards. 




BETHANY BEACH NO. 28% 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 35 160 

II. Building 34 200 

III. Service Systems 61 250 

IV. Class Rooms 55 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



187 



1000 



127 



This building is a one-room, frame structure, 17x21, and one 
of the most unattractive school buildings in the state of Delaware. 
It is an old, unpainted, weatherbeaten wreck. The only thing about 
this building or site which is worth saving is the improved type of 
jacketed heater. Everything else should be destroyed or abandoned 
immediately, and a new building constructed for the children of this 
district. It is nothing short of criminal negligence for a community 
to compel its children, under penalty of the law, to attend school for 
a considerable part of their wakeful hours for nine months out of 
the year in a building that is so unattractive and so utterly unfit for 
human occupancy. 



CONAWAY'S NO. 53 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 31 160 

II. Building 20 200 

III. Service Systems 25 250 

IV. Class Rooms 55 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



133 1000 

Conaway's is a primitive, whitewashed structure not centrally 
located with respect to the school population which it serves. One 
passes a considerable distance through an uninhabited Section on a 
highway running through forests before reaching this building from 
one side. The building is sagging on its brick piers, which are small 
and provide the only under-pinning for the structure. No doubt the 
wind blows up through the floor in the cold days of winter in a way 
which cannot be offset by the heat developed in the small wood 
stove. The sashes are broken down and the window panes are 
barely held in their frames since the putty has disappeared entirely 
in places. The ceiling joists are uncovered. The furniture is very 
poor, the teacher's desk being of the high, old-fashioned, crudely 
made type. The site is very limited, being a clearing of about 50x70 

128 



feet in dimensions. The building itself is approximately 18x24, 
without vestibule. All in all, it is cne of the poorest structures 
found in l^claware. 



MORGAN'S NO. 56 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 85 160 

II. Building 127 200 

III. Service Systems 60 250 

IV. Class Rooms 167 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



442 1000 

This building stands on an excellent concrete block foundation. 
It is a new one-room school with vestibule and cloak rooms. It is 
unfortunate that good architectural advice was not sought when the 
building was planned. A complete bank of windows has been pro- 
vided on the left. Two other windows have been placed at the rear 
of right. Most unfortunate of all, however, has been the placement 
of two small windows on the front at the height of eight feet from 
the floor, through which the light may stream into the eyes of the 
children. There are many good features about this school building. 
It has a good floor, a good sanitary type of teacher's desk, fair cloak 
rooms of ample size, a jacketed heater and some simple wall decora- 
tions. Unfortunately the doors of this building have been planned 
so as to open inward. It might still be advisable to add a blackboard 
in the front of the room. The building as it stands is a good begin- 
ning for a model rural plant. Additions could readily be made pro- 
viding for play room, library, manual training and domestic science. 
Such additions would place this building in a class by itself as far as 
the present school plants in Sussex county are concerned. 



129 



QUINTON NO. 59 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 10 160 

11. Building 10 200 

III. Service Systems 16 250 

IV. Class Rooms 50 225 

V. Special Rooms 1 165 



87 1000 

This old structure, hidden away as far as possible from the 
view of man in order that its dilapidated condition may not be 
known, is literally falling to pieces. Two or three jumps on the 
floor, on the part of an athletic person, might succeed in bringing the 
roof down upon his head. It is as near the pioneer type of school 
building as one can imagine. Its exterior is built of crudely milled 
boards, while its open brick foundation permits the wind to find its 
way with ease through the open cracks of the floor. The ceiling is 
only eight feet high and its joists still remain unhidden. The carved 
seats and broken-down stove belong tO' a previous generation of 
school equipment. The stove is peculiarly located in the center of 
the room with the teacher's desk between it and the front wall. It 
is conceivable that through this arrangement proper warmth is as- 
sured the teacher. It is hardly conceivable that the children at the 
outer walls ever experience a temperature of 67 degrees on cold 
winter days. In order to provide fuel, although the dense forest is 
immediately to the rear of the building, it apparently has been found 
necessary to appropriate clapboards from the wood shed. The 
homes. in the immediate vicinity of this building are of the poorest 
type to be found in Delaware. They probably will remain of the 
poorest type as long as this building is used in its present state. 



130 




TRINITY NO. 73; 



Score 

I. Site 67 

II. Building 66 

III. Service Systems 65 

IV. Class Rooms 97 

V. Special Rooms 2 

297 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Trinity school is a new one-room frame structure, without 
vestibule, on a brick foundation, approximately 24x32 in dimensions, 
standing- on a small irregular site surrounded on two sides by open 
fields and on the third side by woods. The site, though unsatisfac- 
tory, is capable of extension and improvement should this prove to 
be the logical point for the location of the school building. The 
building proper is well painted and in good condition, and is sup- 
plied with an improved type of heater. The interior finish of the 



131 



class room is comparatively good and the blackboard space and 
equipment is better than the average found in the county. The glass 
area is low and the windows are distributed on two opposite sides 
of the room. One feature of this building is especially bad and 
should be corrected immediately, namely, the location of the toilets 
with respect to the air intake of the jacketed heater. The toilets, 
which are of the double compartment community type, are located 
2y2 feet from the rear of the building and six feet from the air 
intake. This condition undoubtedly supplies the class room with 
foul-smelling, impure air. It is inconceivable that intelligent work- 
men would locate the toilets or the air intake in such positions. This 
district could easily and practically consolidate with the adjoining 
districts. 




FAIRMOUNT NO. 82 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 90 160 

II. Building 65 200 

III. Service Systems 55 250 

IV. Class Rooms 115 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



327 



1000 



132 



Fairmount is a one-room structure with a ramshackle exterior 
but fair interior. It is located on an unattractive piece of land at a 
point where it does not appear to be accessible to a large number 
of children. It has an improved type of heater, wainscoting and 
pine board ceilings, and fair children's seats, although they are of the 
double variety. The toilets are located directly in the rear of the 
building and in close proximity to one another, without any barrier. 




JOHNSON'S NO. 85 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 97 160 

II. Building 86 200 

III. Service Systems 65 250 

IV. Class Rooms 141 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



392 



1000 



133 



This school is a new one-room, frame building, 21x32, with 
concrete foundation and vestibule. It is located on a site approxi- 
mately 100x150 feet, which is in good condition and well kept The 
building is located on an excellent highway and is easily accessible. 
An excellent type of vestibule providing fairly satisfactory cloak 
rooms is included in the structure. The service systems, howevi ', 
are much below the standard of the other features of the building. 
The class room is heated by a common stove. A pump is installed in 
the building. The outside toilets are in rather better condition ard 
of better quality than found in other districts. The class room is 
the best feature of the entire situation. It is of good size and well 
shaped. Unfortunately the interior is finished in wood. This is not 
a standard type of finish. The blackboards are excellent and the 
glass area is adequate. The window area, in so far as the buil<Mng 
plan is concerned, is not extremely bad. The windows have b-c.:i 
banked' on one side and three small windows have been placed h"j,h 
up on the opposite side of the room. These windows would not be 
seriously objectionable were it not for the fact that utter ignorance 
and stupidity have been shown in the arrangement of the seats. The 
seats and desks have been backed to the main source of light, the? eby 
compelling the children to face all day long the two high windows 
in what has been made the front of the room. The seats should be 
turned in such a way as to place the main light source on the left 
of the pupils and the blackboards should be moved from the side 
of the room to the front. The seats and desks are of the single 
type of good quality and well selected as to size. 



MUDDY NECK NO. 12lX 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 58 160 

II. Building 36 200 

III. Service Systems 46 250 

IV. Class Rooms 70 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 

212 1000 




MUDDY NECK SCHOOL 

This is a very old one-room, frame building, without vestibule 
or protected entrance. It is approximately 15x24 in dimensions, 
located on a triangular site, too small to allow for any recreational 
program. It is in very bad state of repair and presents every poor 
feature, from, lack of service systems to lighting on three sides. 
The equipment is inadequate, the only feature thereof which is at 
all passable is the provision made by the installation of new double 
seats. Double seats, however, are not acceptable under modern 
educational standards. If consolidation cannot be effected for the 
children of this district a new one-teacher school, built on modern 
lines, should be provided. 



PINE HILL NO. 130 ) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 45 160 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems 43 250 

IV. Class Rooms 55 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



180 



1000 



135 



Pine Hill school is a one-room frame structure, 13x26 in di- 
mensions,, standing on an open brick foundation, on a small cleared 
space in the midst of a dense pine forest. It is almost inaccessible 
from any public highway and very difficult to find. The building is 
very old and in a very bad state of repair. Becausei-of its extreme 
age and poor condition the building represents nO' money loss if it 
should be abandoned. The location is in no way satisfactory for 
school purposes. The service systems are all either missing entirely 
or of the lowest possible grade. The class room, typifying poverty 
in every detail, is poorly lighted, windows being placed on three 
sides of the room, namely, left, rear and right. The door tO' the 
building is the type commonly found on a poor class of bams or 
outhouses. It opens outward and fastens with a thumblatch. In 
the twentieth century children should not be compelled to spend 
the formative period of their lives in a building, amidst an equip- 
ment at least a hundred years behind the times. 

This building should be closed and the children that attend it 
transported to more advantageous educational facilities. 



HOLLYVILLE NO. 132 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 68 160 

II. Building 48 200 

III. Service Systems 61 250 

IV. Class Rooms 81 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



261 1000 

The building is 20 ft. long by 16 ft. wide and rests upon a brick 
foundation. It has a corrugated metal roof upon which the rain no 
doubt beats down to the disadvantage of school discipline. Two 
rows of single seats have been provided besides the double seats 
that are in use in this building. Apparently the only reason why 
single seats were provided was because the building was too small 

136 



for double seats, as the single seats have been placed against the 
wall even where the dead wall spaces are to be found between win- 




HOLLYVILLE SCHOOL 

dows. The building would make a fair sized woodshed but is alto- 
gether unsatisfactory as a schoolhouse. Its outhouses are in wretched 
condition and in close juxtaposition to each other and the school. 
One outhouse may be reached by wading through water at certain 
times of the year. 



McNEAL'S NO. 156 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 40 160 

II. Building 25 200 

III. Service Systems 52 250 

IV. Class Rooms 43 225 

V. Special Rooms -2 165 



162 



1000 



137 



The McNeal's school, locally and more appropriately known as 
"Hog Yard," is a one-room, frame building, approximately 16x22 
ft. in dimensions, located in a small irregular, triangular clearing 
in an oak woods. Except for the narrow unimproved roadway run- 
ning by the building the site is surrounded on all four sides by dense 
woods. The building is very old and in a very bad state of repair. 
The roof is moss grown and the open brick foundation ofifers little 
support to the building and no protection against cold winter storms 
to the floor of the class room. The site is too small and impossible 




McNEAL'S SCHOOL 

of extension or improvement to meet standard requirements. The 
interior of the building, except for the improved heater is of the 
type one might have expected to find in the pioneer schoolhouse. 
It is dark, dirty and untenable for human beings, unless, as is the 
case with school children, they are compelled by law to attend. The 
meager equipment is of the poorest type and much abused. Old 
double seats badly carved and mutilated are extremely unsatisfac- 
tory, and the teacher's desk is of the same general character. The 
glass area is low, and the windows are placed on three sides of the 
room. There is no justifiable excuse for the use of this building 
for school purposes, and in the light of modern civilization it should 
be condemned and closed. The pupils should either be provided 
with a modern one-teacher school or transported to a graded school 
at some point agreed upon with neighboring consolidating districts. 



138 




FOREST PARK NO. 179 

Score 

I. Site 43 

II. Building 29 

III. Service Systems 34 

IV. Class Rooms 56 

V. Special Rooms 2 

164 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



This is a very old one-room frame structure without vestibule. 
15x28 in dimensions, located on a lot approximately 30x100 ft. in 
a pine woods. The building is in a very bad condition and not suit- 
able for improvement or worthy of consideration or enlargement. 
It is heated by a common wood stove which has a sheet metal jacket. 



139 



It is poorly kept and the outhouses are poor in quality and insani- 
tary in condition. The class room is the traditional four wall affair, 
with absolutely the minimum of equipment. The glass area is low 
and distributed on the left, right and front of the room. The nine 
square feet of blackboard space provided is to^ serve 30 pupils. 
Such a situation can call for but one recommendation, that being the 
speediest possible abandonment of the site and building for school 
purposes. 

This district is so situated that consolidation is eminently fea- 
sible and preeminently desirable. 



140 



Chapter Eight 

Representative Two-Room buildings 
Sussex County 



CHAPTER VIII 

representative two-room buildings 
Sussex County 

{The Survey Coimmission has made a zvritten, detailed rej\ir: 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the following pages arc to 
be found descriptions of representative two room, buildings of Sus- 
sex County.) 

SLAUGHTER NECK NO. 4, ETC. 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 66 160 

II. Building 122 -200 

III. Service Systems ■ 72 250 

IV. Class Rooms 143 225 

V. Special Rooms 6 165 



409 1000 

Slaughter Neck School is a two-room, one-story building, com- 
paratively new, cottage type, approximately 28x44 feet, standing 
on a triangular site partially surrounded by woods. The site is 
very inadequate and not easily possible of extension. The building 
is much better than the average found in Sussex County and some 
consideration has been given to the heating and ventilating of the 
class rooms. Improved types of heaters, supplying adequaU- heat 
and providing for ventilation, have been installed. The most un- 
desirable feature of the building is the arrangement of the windows, 
the same being placed on three sides of the room. More tha.-. half 
of the desks in the class rooms are good type single desks. The 
arrangement of the class rooms is such that two can be thrown to- 
gether for a community room. In this respect the building has a 
distinct advantage over other buildings in the county. 

143 



GUMBORO NO. 37, 146, 147 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 32 160 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems Z7 250 

IV. Class Rooms 92 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



196 1000 

This school was built in 1912. It is a two-story, two-room 
structure of very ordinary appearance, resting on brick piers the 
open spaces of which are filled in with wood. There is apparently 
no school site outside of the sand upon which the school building 
stands. In other words the building borders on the highway. The 
six broken window panes on the front of this structure are charac- 
teristic of the entire building. The benches furnished children are 
extremely old and of the double type. A double bench is utilized 
by one of the teachers as a desk, a chair being placed behind it. 
The rooms are approximately 33x24. An improved heater has been 
supplied for the first floor, but none for the second floor. The stair- 
way and vestibule are extremely elementary in nature. The orienta- 
tion of this building is north and south. A minimum of sunlight is 
thus provided in the class rooms. The whole building presents a 
forlorn, unattractive prospect for the children for whom it is 
intended. 



SYCAMORE NO. 44, ISO 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 90 160 

II. Building 42 200 

III. Service Systems 52 250 

IV. Class Rooms 98 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 

285 1000 

144 



The Sycamore school is a two-story, two-room, rectangular type 
of structure, resting on a brick foundation with open spaces be- 
tween piers. The rooms are fairly clean but are crudely furnished, 
carved old-fashioned desks predominating. The iron braces across 
the back and front of this building show that it is very poorly con- 
structed. A jacketed heater is provided for the ground floor class 
room, but apparently a mere stove is considered sufficient for the 
children of the second story. The three windows on the right and 
left of the class rooms admit sufficient light but, of course, provide 
a tremendous amount of destructive cross lighting. The corn crib 
door of the main entrance and the badly supported front stairway 
do not give the building a very prosperous appearance. The black- 
boards of the class rooms are badly painted wood, which were sup- 
planted years ago in progressive communities by high grade slate. 
There is no flag pole for this building. The general character of 
the community, as evidenced by farm buildings and the nature of 
the crops, leaves the impression that a much better school can be 
afforded in this district. 



GOOD HOPE NO. 114, 184 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 15 160 

II. Building 33 200 

III. Service Systems 30 250 

IV. Class Rooms 62 22'5 

V. Special Rooms 1 165 



141 1000 

The conditions tO' be found within this school are intolerably 
poor. The building itself is a rotting wreck. Its brick piers are 
breaking away, the roof leaks in a number of places and the interior 
appears as though a cyclone had passed through. It is located on a 
sand waste where no attempt has been made to improve the grounds. 



145 



WESLEY NO. 138 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 110 160 

II. Building ..105 200 

III. Service Systems 90 250 

IV. Class Rooms 135 225 

V. Special Rooms 23 165 



463 1000 

There is much about this building to be commended in con- 
trast with the other buildings of Sussex County. It is an attractive, 
freshly paintqd, two-room, one-story structure, situated in a pros- 
perous community and on good roads. The grounds are well kept 
and the grass cut. At the front of the school is a concrete platform 
and stair. No vestibule is provided. The interior is so arranged 
that the doors between the two- class rooms may be moved back so 
as to permit the entire area of the two rooms to be used for 
auditorium purposes. This arrangement is satisfactory from one 
standpoint, but might have been much better planned by an archi- 
tect trained in school architecture so as tO' prevent the very bad 
lighting which is found in the right-hand room. The arrange- 
ment that exists requires that the children in the left-hand room 
secure the majority of their light from the three windows on the 
right. It is unfortunate that these rooms were not both unilater- 
ally lighted and that the windows on the front and rear were not 
omitted. The floors are in fair condition, while the entire appear- 
ance of the rooms is that of extreme care, and of a desire tO' fur- 
nish these children with better educational opportunities. New 
double seats in varying sizes have been provided. It was pleas- 
ing to note the variation in sizes, and yet unsatisfactory to find 
that this community was still buying double seats. The outhouses 
which accompany this building are the most substantial outhouses 
to be found in Sussex County. They have been made of well- 
joined boards which have been adequately painted. The houses 
are properly screened and moderately clean and free from deface- 
ment. It was unusual to find a stove in an outhouse in Sussex 
County. This was a feature of the Wesley School outhouses. 

The people in this community have in this building the nucleus 

146 



for a modern school plant. Additions may readily bs made to this 
building providing for manual training, domestic sc^'ci.ce and play 
purposes. 



CANNON NO. 138% 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 112 160 

II. Building 108 200 

III. Service Systems 85 250 

IV. Class Rooms 115 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



423 1000 

In this prosperous, attractive community is to be found a two- 
room, one-story, frame structure of a better type. In the first 
place the yard presents an appearance of orderliness which is quite 
unusual, although its standard is not high when compared with 
that of similar communities in other states. The cinder paths lead- 
ing to the front porch, the outhouses and fuel house are not to be 
found in many schools in Sussex County. The brick foundation 
is in excellent condition. The large cement front porch and stair- 
way is unusual and to be commended. The class rooms are lighted 
on three sides, although the six windows on the long axis would 
have sufficed. If the rooms had been built without the windows 
on the front and rear much inconvenience would have been obviated 
for both teachers and pupils. The following characteristics of the 
equipment of this building were unusual for Sussex County : A 
thermometer in the class room, a good enameled sink, a bubbler 
drinking fountain, a large clock in one room and a varnished book- 
case with glass doors. An improved type of heater was found, 
although located within the class rooms. 

It is unfortunate that it was deemed necessary to retain the 
old carved desks (which are of the double variety) in one of these 
rooms. A better type of teacher's desk and a rope for the flag pole 
should be provided. This building can be made a rather satisfac- 

147 



tory school structure by the addition of a play room, manual train- 
ing and a domestic science. Consolidation with other districts in 
the neighborhood is possible. 





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MIDWAY NO. 179 

Score 

I. Site 56 

II. Building 54 

III. Service Systems 69 

IV. Qass Rooms 100 

V. Special Rooms 3 

282 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



Midway is a comparatively new one-story, two-room, frame 
structure, without vestibule or corridor connections between the 
class rooms. It is located on an irregular site approximately 80x150 
feet, with a graveyard and church adjoining. The site is impos- 
sible of adequate extension. The building proper is a bungled 



148 



attempt to meet crowded conditions of a one-room school by string- 
ing out a second room on the end of the original one-room struc- 
ture. Apparently no expert advice had been scug.'it in the con- 
struction cf the building. The building is heated by an improved 
type of jacketed heaters, but the other elements of service systems 
are extremely poor. The toilets are located down in the woods 
where they are almost inaccessible. The class rooms which are 
approximately 18x22 and 18 feet square respectively, are poorly 
equipped and poorly lighted. As scon as the necessary steps can 
be taken to perfect consolidation so as to bring together a larger 
number of children in order that a graded school may be had, this 
school should be closed. 



.14!) 



Chapter Nine 

Representative School Buildings for 

Colored Children, New 

Castle County 



CHAPTER IX 

Representative School Building for 

Colored Children, New 

Castle County 

(The Survey Commission has made a zuritten, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of 
Delaware (exclusive of Wilmington). In the folloumig pages are 
to he found descriptions of representative school buildings for 
colored children of Nezv Castle County.) 



NEWPORT DISTRICT NO. I06 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 29 160 

II. Building 49 200 

III. Service Systems 52 250 

IV. Class Rooms 83 22'5 

V. Special Rooms 1 165 



214 1000 

The Newport School for colored children is a one-room, rec- 
tangular, frame structure, very old and in poor condition. The 
environment of this school is a church, graveyard and potato^ patch. 
The site is scarcely larger than the building itself, and the entire 
situation is most deplorable. It is unfit in every respect for the 
housing of children. 

153 





TYPICAL OUTHOUSE 



TYPICAL ENTRANCE 




TYPICAL SEATS 



Typical equipment and facilities providad the colored children 
of Delaware. 



154 




NEWPORT SCHOOL 



NEWARK NO. I!0 

(Colored) 

Score 

I. Site 39 

II. Building 42 

III. Service Systems 46 

IV. Class Rooms 60 

V. Special Rooms 

187 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 
250 

225 
165 



1000 



This two-story, three-room frame building stands on a brick 
foundation on a very limited school site. The site is unattractive 
and wholly unsuitable for school purposes. No' attempt has been 
made to provide opportunity for play for the children that attend 
school in these three rooms, and the interior of the building is 
dirty and unwholesome. The children that attend school here can 



155 



with difficulty be made to carry into their homes higher standards 
of cleanhness than prevail in this particular structure. The stair- 
way leading to the second floor is poorly built and more or less of 
a fire trap. The wiring of the building for the limited lighting 




THE TOILET FOR THE COLORED CHILDREN OF THE WILLIAMS- 
VILLE SCHOOL, DISTRICT NO. 113. NEW CASTLE COUNTY 



provided does not conform to modern standards. It is quite pos- 
sible that the wiring might cause fire dangers at any moment that 
the school is in session. The double seats which have been provided 
for the children are old and much worn. They should be sup- 
planted by the single modern seat. The floors and walls are in poor 
condition. The outhouses are nothing less than a disgrace, and 
leave with the children no impression of proper sanitation and 
proper precautions in respect to health. In two of the rooms a 
modem jacketed heater has been installed. The entire plant is 



156 



totally inadequate for the 109 children who were registered during 
the past school year. It should be supplanted by a modern up- 
to-date structure, built on an ample site, and so equipped and main- 
tained as to raise the standard of living and of ideals for all of the 
colored people of this community. 




GLASGOW NO. 114 

(Colored) 

Score 

I. Site 56 

II. Building 51 

III. Service Systems 24 

IV. Class Rooms 77 

V. Special Rooms. ........ 1 

209 



Possible Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Glasgow School is a four-walled, frame structure, without 
vestibule or protected entrance. It has a tin roof and is in general 



157 



bad state of repair. It is located on a small triangular plot of worth- 
less land adjoining low, swampy ground. On no single item con- 
sidered does the building justify its use for school purposes. The 
total score of 209 out of 1000 justifies the recommendation that this 
building be closed to school children. 




SCHOOL HOUSE 



CHURCH 



I. 

II. 
III. 

IV. 

V. 



ST. GEORGES DISTRICT NO. 117 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

Site Z7 160 

Building 63 200 

Service Systems 41 250 

Class Rooms 102 225 

Special Rooms 3 165 



246 1000 

The school for colored children in St. Georges is a one-room, 
rectangular, vestibuled type of frame building, located on a small 



158 



site in the rear of the colored church. As clearly shown in the pic- 
ture, there is no opportunity for play and little possibility of the 
development of an adequate recreational ground. The building is 
poorly equipped, poorly lighted and unfit for school purposes. 




NOTE-Marsh to the left with Canal boat back of it 

DELAWARE CITY DISTRICT NO. 118 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 8 160 

II. Building 57 200 

III. Service Systems 57 250 

IV. Class Rooms 34 225 

V. Special Rooms 4 165 

204 1000 

This school building is a two-room, one-story, frame struc- 
ture 24x48, located on a site 50x100 feet, with a marsh on one 

159 



side and a canal on the other. The rear of the school building is 
30 feet from the edge of the canal along which boats are continu- 
ally passing. Upon no part of the school ground at the time of the 
survey was it possible to walk without wading through water or 
mud. Two new toilet outhouses had recently been struck down in 
the mud alongside the edge of the marsh. The score on the site of 
this building is the lowest recorded in the experience of the Survey 
Commission. 

The building itself, except for the Waterbury heater, is but 
little better than the environment in which it is placed. There can 
be little hope for the education or Americanization of children that 
are required to secure their education under conditions such as are 
found in this building. 



MT. PLEASANT NO. 119 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 75 160 

II. Building 89 200 

III. Service Systems 28 • 250 

IV. Class Rooms 89 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



283 1000 

Shelter and to a degree protection from cold, inclement weather 
is all this building has to offer the children that are supposed to 
attend it. It is disqualified and condemned on every major item 
of the score card and reference to the detail scores will further 
emphasize the educational lacks. It is of special note that this 
building has but one toilet for the two sexes and that in the class 



L60 




MT. PLEASANT SCHOOL 

Note arrow to the left of school house pointing- to pig- sty. 

room the old wooden benches of a hundred years ago are still in 
use. The colored children of this district are entitled to better 
educational opportunities than can be afforded in this building. 



MIDDLETOWN NO. I20 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

I. Sit2 125 160 

II. Building 135 200 

III. Service Systems 75 250 

IV. Class Rooms 160 225 

V. Special Rooms 5 165 



500 



1000 



161 



This building was rated among the highest of the schools for 
colored children, and yet, as one reads the following list of recom- 
mendations, one wonders what kind of school buildings are pro- 
vided colored children elsewhere in the state. The recommendations 
include : Improved drinking facilities, playground apparatus, the 
planting of trees and shrubs, the building of walks, the addition of 
a rope tO' the flagpole, the erection of new toilets, the addition of 
more windows in the small rooms of this building so that the 
proper percentage between floor area and window area may be 
maintained, the proper arrangement of blackboards in the large 
room, the repainting of the entire exterior of the building and a 
thorough scrubbing and cleaning of the interior. In arrangement of 
rooms and their illumination, provisions for heating, size of site and 
in equipment this school outranks the other colored schools of the 
state. 



PORT PENN NO. 122 

(Colored) 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 7Z 160 

II. Building 70 200 

III. Service Systems 53 250 

IV. Class Rooms 7Z 225 . 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



271 1000 

Altho scoring above the medium for colored schools of the 
country, the Port Penn building is in every major respect far 
below acceptable standards. If the present location of the school 
should appear to be the most satisfactory, the size of the site should 
be extended by from four to ten acres and a properly planned 
building constructed. It seems fair to note that this colored school 
did have two toilets, altho they were in very unsatisfactory condi- 

162 




PORT PENN SCHOOL 

tion. The building is heated by a jacketed heater of good quality 
and in this respect is better than others of its class. 




163 




CONGOTOWN NO. 

' (Colored) 



123 



Score 

I. Site 63 

II. Building 54 

III. Service Systems 22 

IV. Class Rooms. ...... .^.., 57 

V. Special Rooms. ........ 2 

198 



Possible Score 

160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



This building has nothing commendable about it except the 
improved highway which makes it fairly accessible. Its environ- 
ment is not pleasing; the site is so small as to be of no consequence 
and the little that is not occupied by the building is overgrown with 
briars and bushes. The two sexes are provided with but one toilet, 
the condition of which is very bad. The adequacy of the class 
room is indicated by the very low score of 57 points out of 225. 
The building should be closed for school purposes and the site 
abandoned. 



164 




EBENEZER DISTRICT NO. 126 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 17 160 

II. Building 60 200 

III. Service Systems 25 250 

IV. Class Rooms 75 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



177 



1000 



The score on this building is extremely low. A more unde- 
sirable site can scarcely be imagined. The building is located in a 
marsh so low and wet that at the time of the survey stagnant water 
was standing under and about the building. Marsh grass several 
feet high covered practically the whole of the small site and the 
single toilet allotted to the children of this school must be inaccessi- 
ble on account of mud and water thruout a good part of the year. 

There are no steps at the entrance, the rise being two feet from 
the ground to the floor level. The room is lighted from three sides 
and no window shades are provided. School should not be con- 
ducted in this building for a single day longer than necessary to 
arrange transportation. 



165 



Chapter Ten 

Representative School Buildings 

for colored children 

Kent County 



chapter x 

Representative School Buildings 

for colored children 

Kent County 

(The Survey Commission has m^ade a written, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of 
Delaware (exclusive of Wilm,ington) . In the following pages are 
to he found descriptions of representative school buildings for 
colored children of Kent County). 



CLAYTON NO. 136 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 43 160 

II. Building 22 200 

III. Service Systems 12 250 

IV. Class Rooms 59 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



136 1000 

This school is located on a limited area on the main road 
between Clayton and Smyrna. Its entrance stairway is in a decayed 
condition and cannot be used without extreme danger to those 
passing over it. The building itself is of the simplest board, box 
variety, with unpainted exterior and poorly decorated and painted 
interior. Its window panes are broken in some cases, boards are 
falling off the exterior, and its tumbled-down outhouses adjoin 
each other with cracked boards as the only partition between them. 
The building is poorly lighted, has a pretense of a vestibule, and 
apparently attempts are made to heat it through the medium of a 

169 



much-used unjacketed stove. Other provisions should be made 
immediately for housing these colored children when they are 
spending their time in securing the education to which they are 
entitled. 




BLACKISTON'S NO. 137 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 32 160 

II. Building 53 200 

III. Service Systems 21 250 

IV. Class Rooms 50 225 

V. Special Rooms ......... 165 



156 



1000 



170 



This is a one- room frame building with unprotected entrance 
on the long axis of the building. It is in a dilapidated condition, 
and the entire surroundings are unsuited to the needs of the com- 
munity. The grounds are overgrown with briars and bushes, and 
the entrance to the grounds is so low that at the time of the survey 
the building was almost inaccessible. The class room is Hghted on 
three sides and is supplied with the very minimum of ancient and 
mutilated equipment. 




BLANCO NO. 138 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site- 48 160 

II. Building 39 ' 200 

III. Service Systems 19 250 

IV. Class Rooms 49 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



155 



1000 



171 



This is a one-room frame building-, 18x30, with vestibuled 
entrance. The site is too small for present needs and is so located 
as not to be convenient of extension. The building scores but 19 
points out of 250 on service systems and offers a minimum of class 
room facilities. The score by individual items and totals is sufficient 
justification for the recommendation that the building be abandoned. 




SANDFIELD NO. 141 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 50 160 

II. Building 30 200 

III. Service Systems 21 250 

IV. Class Rooms 52 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



153 



1000 



172 



This is a very old frame building of the box type with open 
foundation. The building is 16x20, and the size of the site is inde- 
terminate because of the fact that it is located in the woods, only 
the imderbrush having been cut away to allow for the placement 
of the building. The elevation of the land is such that should this 
site be made permanent a large clearing would make a fairly desira- 
ble school site. The score of 30 out of 200 points on the building 
proper is indicative of the fact that little loss would be entailed 
in the complete abandonment of the building. 





MARYDEL NO. 153 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 45 160 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems 19 250 

IV. Class Room 65 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



164 



1000 



173 



The Marydel colored school is a one-room frame building, 
18x20, located on a small indeterminate school site, joining a church 
yard. The building is very old and in a dilapidated condition. It 
is heated by a box wood stove and offers absolutely no facilities in 
the way of water supply or toilet systems. The class room and 
class room equipment are of the meagerest type and utterly unfit 
for use. The building should be closed and the children transported 
to a new building constructed upon a suitable site. - 



VIOLA NO. 156 

(Colored) 

Score 
I. Site 65 

II. Building 117 

III. Service Systems 62 

IV. Class Rooms 99 

V. Special Rooms 

343 



Perfect Score 

160 
200 

250 
225 
165 



1000 



This is one of the best schools in the county. It is an attractive, 
well-kept structure. It has vestibules, but needs new toilets. The 
grounds should be larger to give plenty of playground space for 
the children. 



REEVES CROSSING NO. 159 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 29 160 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems 22' 250 

IV. Class Rooms 75 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



161 



1000 



174 



In this one-room, non-vestibuled frame structure, approxi- 
mately 21x18 ft., were housed in 1918-1919 forty-two children, 
and not enough seats were provided for these children, so that a 
number were required to use crudely fashioned wooden benches 
without a desk top and place for their books and school utensils. 
The building- is located on a very poor site adjoining the railroad 
track. Upon this site has been expended little care so as to make 
it at all attractive for children. The double seats which are pro- 
vided are of an inferior quality ; the teacher's desk is of fair type, 
but practically no other equipment is furnished. There are no 
decorations, the room is heated by an old-fashioned stove, and a 
fair amount of slate blackboard space was provided. The interior 
had been cleaned on the Saturday before the opening of the school 
so as to make it fairly presentable for the first day. The two out- 
houses stand immediately to the rear of the school building and 
within about three feet of the building itself. They are not shielded 
from one another and altogether present a most undesirable situation. 



JOHN WESLEY NO. 160 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 55 160 

II. Building 15 200 

III. Service Systems 20 250 

IV. Class Rooms 70 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



160 1000 

John Wesley school is nothing but a wretched, dilapidated 
hovel. It is not fit for the housing of any child. The clapboards 
are falling out, brick foundations decaying away and the roof 
rotting in places. It is unfortunately located near a cemetery and 
lacks sufficient playground area as well as playground apparatus. 
Children may with wisdom be kept at home rather than housed in 
such a structure for the purpose of "Getting an education." 

175 



MILFORD NQ. 163 

(Colored) . 

Score Possible Score 

I. Site 63 160 

II. Building 34 200 

III. Service Systems 49 250 

IV. Class Rooms........... 98 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 . 165 



246 1000 

The Milford school is located on a limited site in close prox- 
imity to a very unsanitary dumpheap. The outhouses of this build- 
ing were in the usual insanitary condition. The building itself is 
one of the better frame buildings provided for colored children in 
the special school districts. The rooms are poorly lighted, mainly 
from three sides. The floors are in bad condition and the equip- 
ment very poor. The plaster had fallen off in places. The building 
has no protection from' fire danger?. Its- awkward stairway, 
unequipped with proper handrails, and its class room doors opening 
inward, would add considerably to the danger to the lives of chil- 
dren who were endeavoring to leave this building in a hurry. The 
four rooms provided in this building cannot be considered adequate 
for the 140 children of eight grades who were registered here last 
year. No place was provided these childreni for hats or wraps and 
no conveniences of any kind were afforded teachers or pupils. The 
common drinking cup was still in use. 



176 





Colored school at Milford, Delaware. One of the best of the 
frame buildings provided for colored children in the special school 
districts. It is unfortunate that the dumpheap is in such close 
proximity to this school. The outhouses for this building were in 
the usual insanitary condition. The site is small and no con- 
veniences provided for teachers or pupils. This four-room school 
will not provide the type of education that children of a democracy 
ought to be getting. 



177 



Chapter Eleven 

Representative School buildings 

FOR Colored Children 

Sussex County 



CHAPTER XI 

representative school buildings 

for colored children 

Sussex County 

(The Survey Commission has made a written, detailed report 
to the Service Citizens on each school building in the State of Dela- 
ware (exclusive of Wilmington) . In the following pages are to be 
found descriptions of representative school buildings for colored 
dhildren of Sussex County.) 



ELLENDALE NO. 195 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 26 160 

II. Building 30 200 

III. Service Systems 37 250 

IV. Class Rooms . . 46 ., 225 

V. Special Rooms 3 165 



142 1000 

This is a very old, one-room, vestibuled' frame building, 14x28, 
on a brick foundation in very bad condition. It is located in a 
churchyard and offers little opportunity for play or recreational 
facilities. Service systems are either entirely missing or of the 
most meager type possible. The class room is small, dirty and in 
general uninhabitable. The glass area is low, and distributed on 

181 




ELLENDALE SCHOOL 



three sides of the room, one of which the children are compelled 
to face. The building should not be used for school purposes and 
cannot be made by alteration into an acceptable school building. 



FRIENDSHIP NO. 202 

(Colored) 

Score 
I. Site 20 

II. Building 30 

III. Service Systems 6 

IV. Class Rooms 55 

V. Special Rooms 

111 



Perfect Score 
160 

200 

250 

225 

165 



1000 



This is probably as poor a school building as can be found in 

182 



Delaware. Its score of 111 points indicates that practically nothing 
exists about this school which is worthy of mention. Torn, ragged, 
out-of-date maps are samples of the type of equipment. A floor 
full of holes and patched in places by nailing on a second layer of 
broken board indicates in what condition the interior of this struc- 
ture was found. Weeds were actually growing through the floor of 
the schoolhouse. The majority of the blackboards were painted 
wooden boards with a large part of the paint worn off. The build- 
ing is located in what was once a clearing on a forest road, in the 
midst of a dense forest. The clearing had become overgrown tO' 
such an extent tbat it was impossible to see the outhouses, if there 
were any, from the road. The State of Delaware should not permit 
this building to be used as a schoolhouse a moment longer than it 
will be necessary to build a high-grade, modern plant for these 
children. 




MILLSBORO SCHOOL 
183 



MILLSBORO NO. 204 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 62 165 

II. Building 35 200 

III. Service Systems 7 250 

IV. Class Rooms 67 ,225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



171 1000 

This school is situated on a very limited, triangular plot, backed 
by a forest which practically overtops the schoolhouse itself. The 
shutters, outside steps, pump and windows are among the parts of 
this building that were broken down. Some of the brick piers are 
rotting away. The interior of this building could be barren in no 
greater degree. There is absolutely no indication of any effort for 
making the interior of this building attractive. No decorations of 
any kind appear. The wood stove cannot possibly provide suffi- 
cient warmth for the children in winter. There seems to be only 
one toilet to be used in common by both sexes. 



WHARTON'S BRANCH NO. 205 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 32 160 

II. Building 13 200 

III. Service Systems 26 250 

IV. Class Rooms 24 225 

V. Special Rooms 2 165 



97 1000 

Wharton's Branch Colored School is housed in a very old one- 
room, one-story frame building, which is located on a small, irreg- 

184 



ular site, approximately 100x150 feet, surrounded on three sides by 
oak woods and underbrush. The building is 14x20, of the non-vesti- 
buled type, lighted from three sides with the seatings so arranged as 
to compel the children to face an open window. The entire structure 
is in the last stages of decay. From the exterior one would never 
suspect that school children would be housed in such quarters. The 




WHARTON SCHOOL 

interior is no more satisfactory than the exterior. The ceiling is 
seven and one-half feet high and the floor, which is badly worn, is 
sagging down at either end to such an extent that it is out of level 
by as much as twelve inches. This building has absolutely nothing 
to recommend its continued use for school purposes, and everything 
to warrant the recommendation that it be closed, and that in its place 
a modern school structure be provided. 



185 



SELBYVILLE NO. 210 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 55 160 

II. Building 70 200 

III. Service Systems 33 250 

IV. Class Rooms 69 225 

V. Special Rooms.' 2 165 



229 1000 

This is an old, rectangular, one-room building, 16x24. It is 
without vestibule or protected entrance, in general bad repair, though 
recently painted. It cannot be said to have any site of its own, for 
it is located on the corner of a churchyard. It is on the main high- 
way, but is reached by a rather circuitous route through unimproved 
lanes and passageways through corn fields. Although only 16x24 
feet in size, it has crowded into it seats for 40 pupils. The seats 
are arranged in such a way as to require the children to face four 
open windows. For such time as the building must be used for school 
purposes the two windows in the end of the room opposite the door 
should be closed and the seats arranged to face in that . direction. 
The building has nothing to recommend its continued use for school 
purposes, and at the earliest possible time a new and adequate struct- 
ure should be provided at some point more advantageous in every 
way than is the present location. 



LOWES X ROADS NO. 212 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 40 160 

II. Building 25 200 

III. Service Systems 15 250 

IV. Class Rooms 30 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 

110 1000 

186 



This old and rotten hulk, hidden away in the woods, is about 
ready to tumble down. The window panes are out and the interior 
is musty, moldy, dirty, stinking and utterly impossible from the 
standpoint of educational needs. The desks are of the old board 
type. The building has nothing to recommend it and every element 
about it condemns it. 



PORTSVILLE NO. 214 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 70 160 

II. Building 30 200 

III. Service Systems 16 250 

IV. Class Rooms 41 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



157 1000 

The Portsville Colored School is situated in close proximity to 
a new church which is fully 500 per cent better than the school- 
house. This is a dirty structure, within and without, with aged, un- 
varnished walls, cracked blackboards of painted wood and slate, with 
totally inadequate window area for lighting the interior. The floors 
are worn and poor, the woodwork unpainted and the ceiling but eight 
feet from the floor. Apparently, a common outhouse does service 
for both sexes, while the pump from which the drinking water is 
drawn is within fifteen feet of this common toilet. The old wood 
stove and the new teache!-'s desk stand in striking contrast. The 
school is situated in a poverty-stricken community. The only hope 
for this community is for the State to step in and provide a structure 
which will permit some of these children to get a training which will 
fit them for their future work. If the brick piers underneath the 
structure are not repaired soon the building will run the danger of 
being lowered to the ground. 

187 



CONCORD NO. 216 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

I. Site 40 160 

II. Building ..-. . 40 200 

III. Service Systems 25 250 

IV. Class Rooms 50 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 



155 1000 

This wretched structure is mounted on brick piers which rise 
as high as two feet from the shifting sand base. The dimensions of 
the class room are approximately 18x30, while only six windows 
have been provided, size 2^x3)^, and the percentage of window 
area to floor area is far below the acceptable standard of from 
twenty to twenty-five per cent. An old, tumbledown, battered stove 
is relied upon to heat the interior, which is lined throughout with 
wood sheathing. The floor might well be given a second covering, 
since, because of the large open area underneath and the open nature 
of the floor, an overabundance of ventilation is undoubtedly pro- 
vided in winter. A quaint painted box has been provided as a 
teacher's desk. The broken-down front stairway and the skeleton 
of a woodshed are fit complements to this structure. 



TRINITY NO. 221 

(Colored) 

Score Perfect Score 

L Site • 30 160 

II. Building 17 200 

III. Service Systems 19 250 

IV. Class Rooms 52 225 

V. Special Rooms 165 

118 1000 

188 




TRINITY SCHOOL 

This building is a one-room frame structure, without vestibule. 
It is approximately 18x32 feet in dimensions. The character of the 
foundation could not be ascertained without the removal of boards, 
which were buried in the ground. The roof is moss-grown, and the 
entire building is in the last stages of decay. It is located in a church- 
yard at the intersection of poorly graded, imimproved roads. The 
building is heated by a box stove. It has neither clock nor bel^ ; no 
provision has been made for either drinking or washing facilities 
and no toilet accommodations whatever are provided. The glass 
area of the class room is less than one-half of what it should be, 
and what it has is distributed on opposite sides of the room. No 
window shades are supplied and no provision made for cloak rooms. 
The only commendable feature of the building is the new double 
desks which have been installed. These are in good condition, but 
double desks do not meet standard requirements. This building 



189 



should be abandoned absolutely and the children of the community 
provided with a new and modern schoolhouse. 




HOLLYVILLE NO. 224 

(Colored) 

Score 

I. Site 7Z 

II. Building 37 

III. Service Systems 46 

IV. Class Rooms 84 

V. Special Rooms 3 

243 - 



Perfect Score 
160 
200 
250 
225 
165 



1000 



The Hollyville Colored School is an old, oi)e-room f raijie struct- 
ure, without vestibule or protection of any kind over the entrance. 
The building is approximately 14x18 feet in dimensions and is 
located on a rectangular site at the intersection of poorly graded, un- 
improved roads. The present site is too small to meet the standards 
with respect to- this item, but the location of the building would per- 

190 



mit of the site being extended by clearing away more of the pine for- 
est which surrounds the present site. The building is of such a primi- 
tive character, so old and dilapidated as not to be considered possible 
as even a nucleus for a new structure. The building is heated by a 
primitive wood stove and the other service systems of the building 
are of the same general type. The class room is lighted from two 
sides and the class room equipment is very old. In fact, the pupils' 
seats and desks and the teacher's desk are the old handmade type of 
furniture. The accompanying picture is that of the interior of the 
room, showing both the pupils' and teacher's desks. Regardless of 
the very primitive nature of both the equipment and the building 
and of the entire situation, some one has been making the best of a 
very bad job, for the room was neat, clean and as attractive as such 
a room could be made. 



191 



Part Two 

The Measurements of the School 
Buildings of Delaware 



PART TWO 

THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE SCHOOL 
BUILDINGS OF DELAWARE 

For the reader who is anxious to acquaint himself with the 
methods employed in surveying the school buildings of Delaware, 
and for one who would know all the facts recorded by the survey, 
this section, with its tables of scores and score card, has been pre- 
pared. The score card and the detail of standards accompanying it 
have been developed over a period of five years of study and investi- 
gation of school buildings throughout the country. The standards set 
by the various States, the work accomplished by architects and 
builders, handbooks of architecture and the like were used in the 
study of the situation which led to the development of the score 
card. 

The idea of a score card has been common over a considerable 
period of years, especially in the work of agricultural colleges. There 
is a manifest advantage in the score card in that it fixes attention 
upon all of those qualities or elements which go to make up the per- 
fect whole desired. Individuals, in judging school buildings, not in- 
frequently think mainly in terms of two or three elements which 
seem to them to be of primary importance and often neglect other 
parts of the building which are; when one stops to consider them, of 
equal value. In making the score card it was necessary, first of all, 
to include as nearly as possible all of those details which go to make 
up the perfect school building. It was, of course, desirable, in so 
far as it was possible, to include under a few main heads all of the 
subordinate factors. After a very considerable amount of experi- 
mentation, the items Site, Building, Service Systems, Class Rooms 
and Special Rooms were decided upon as the main heads. The score 
card is accompanied with a set of detailed standards for each of its 
sub-items, in the light of which the score for each item is obtained 

A school building which meets all of the standards proposed in 
the score card is rated at 1000 points. Experience resulting from the 



application of the score card to hundreds of school buildings in 
various sections of the United States suggests that a score of 900 to 
1000 points indicates a highly satisfactory degree of construction 
and equipment. In fact, in only a few minor respects does such a 
building deviate from acceptable standards. . 

A rating between 700 and 900 points is fairly satisfactory. Such 
a rating should be studied in the light of its component parts. Slight 
building alterations, the need for which will be indicated by the low 
scores allowed on such items, will tend to raise considerably the 
score of a building in this group. A score of 500 to 700 points has 
meant that considerable alteration was needed before these buildings 
could be brought to a satisfactory standard of efficiency. 

When scores of buildings have fallen below 500 points, it has 
been the universal judgment of those who have built the score card 
that speedy abandonment of those buildings for school purposes was 
the only justifiable course to be followed. In all instances where 
scores of 500 points or less have resulted it has seemed that expendi- 
tures for repairs and reconstruction would be highly excessive. It 
has also- seemed that there was little possibility, even with the expen- 
diture of relatively large sums of money, tO' secure as a result of such 
repairs and reconstruction a building which was suitable for school 
purposes. The score card and the detail of standards accompanying 
it follow: 



SCORE CARD FOR VILLAGE OR RURAL SCHOOL 
BUILDINGS OF FOUR TEACHERS OR LESS 



I— Site (160) ( ) 

A. Location 

1. Accessibility 

2. Environment 

B. Drainage 

1. Elevation 

2. Nature of soil 

C. Size, form and use 

D. Flagpole 

II— Buildmg (200) ( ) 

A. Placement 

1. Orientation 

2. Position on site 

B. Gross Structure 

1. Type 

2. Material 



30 
35 

20 
20 

10 



25 
15 

20 
10 



65 

40 

45 
10 

40 
90 



196 



c. 



c. 



D. 



G. 



A. 
B.. 



3. Height 

4. Roof 

5. Foundation 

6. Walls 

7. Entrances 

8. Aesthetic balance 

9. Condition 

Internal Structure 

1. Stairways, vestibules and corridors.. 

2. Basement 

3. Color scheme 

4. Attic 

Ill — Service Systems (250) ( ) 
Heating- and Ventilation 



Kind :••■.•••; 

Installation and distribution 

Air supply 

Fans and motors 

Temperature control 

Fire Protection , 

1. iVpparatus , 

2. Fireproof ness and fire doors 

3. Exits ". .. 

4. ■ Light installation .,..., 

Cleaning System 

1. Kind and equipment .. 

2. Efficiency . 

Artificial Lighting 

1. Gas or electricity 

2. Outlets and fixtures . 

3. Illumination . . . , 

Schedule and Emergency Equipment 

1. Clock 

2. Bell 

3. Telephone , 

4. First aid '....."... 

Water Supply System . . . 

1. Drinking 

2. Washing 

3. Bathing 

4. Hot and cold 

Toilet Systems . . . 

1. Placement ' . . . 

2. Fixtures 

3. Adequacy 

4. Seclusion, sanitation and condition. 

IV— Class Rooms (225) ( ) . . 

Arrangement 

Construction and Finish 

1. Size 

Shape 

Floors 

Walls 

Doors 

Closets . . . 

Blackboards and bulletin boards.... 

8. Color scheme 

Illumination 



10 
5 

10 
10 
10 
5 
10 

25 
30 
10 

5 



20 
10 
15 

5 
5 

5 
5 
5 
5 

10 
15 

5 
10 

5 

5 
5 

5 
5 

20 

15 

5 

10 

15 
10 
10 

25 

10 

20 

15 
10 

5 

5 

5 

15 

5 



70 

20 

25 
20 

20 

50 



10 



60 



197 



A. 



B. 
C. 



, 1. Class area 

2. Window placement 

3. Shades 

Cloakrooms and Wardrobes 

Equipment 

1. Seats and desks 

2. Teachers' desks 

3. Other equipment 

V— Special Rooms (165) ( ) 
Rooms for General Use 

1. Play room 

2. Community room 

3. Library 

4. Lunch room 

Officials' Consult. Rm 

Other Spec. Serv. Rooms 

1. Industrial Arts 

2. Household arts 

3. Fuel room 

Totals 



30 
20 
10 
20 

30 

5 

20 



20 
30 
20 
10 
20 

30 
30 

5 



20 

55 



80 



20 
65 



1000 



1000 



MINIMUM AND OPTIONAL STANDARDS FOR VILLAGE 

AND RURAL SCHOOL BUILDINGS OF FOUR 

TEACHERS AND LESS 

STATE OF DELAWARE 

Note. — The standards mentioned under each item below are 
the minimum standards. Optional standards are specified in each 
instance where such are allowed. 

L SITE. 

A. Location. 

1. Accessibility: 

a. Location near intersecting main highways if possible. 

b. Centrality (present and future) desirable, but second- 
ary to (a) ; not more than 2 miles from farthest home 
served, unless transportation at public expense is 
provided. 

2. Environment : 

a. Sanitary and healthful — not adjacent to farm houses, 
barns, stock pens, open ditches, swamps, ponds or 
dense woods. 

b. Free from disturbance by noise or mal-odors of rail- 
road trains, mills, factories and the like. 

B. Drainage: 

1. Elevation: 

a. Natural elevation preferred — slope away from build- 
ing. 

b. Site should be underdrained with tile whenever neces- 
sary. 

2. Nature of Soil : 

a. Quick drying, sandy loam, fertile and well adapted to 
vegetation. 



11)8 



C. Size, Form and Use:- 

a. Size — A minimum space of four acres, thus providing 

space for adequate playgrounds, athletic field, 
school garden and pleasing location of building. 

b. Form — Should be rectangular in shape, approximately 

300 ft. by 550 ft., allowing for location of build- 
ing on end or corner with well adapted space for 
playgrounds and garden. 

c. Use — Grounds should have modern play apparatus, 

athletic field, and school garden. 

D. Flagpole : 

Preferably on grounds in front of building — pole higher than 
building. 

II. BUILDING. 

A. Placement : 

1. Orientation — Light exposure of class rooms should be, in 
order of preference, southeast, east, southwest, west. Class 
rooms should not have full north or south light exposure. 

2. Position on Site : 

a. Greatest possible utilization of grounds for play and 
gardening purposes. 

b. Shopld allow for future additions and expansion of 
plant. 

B. Gross Structure: 

1. Cottage type; three or four teacher-building should be 
planned in T, E, or U type, thus allowing for easy additions. 

2. Materials — ^Hardburned brick, concrete, hollow tile stuccoed, 
or stone. Wood, constructed along lines of modern fire- 
resistive methods. 

3. Height — One story above basement. 

4. Roof : 

a. Sloping, of wood, shingle, slate or tile, waterproof, 
properly sloped for drainage. 

b. Provided with eave gutters and leaders emptying into 
cistern connections or other outlets. 

c. Metal guards near eaves to prevent snow slides. 

5. Foundation : 

a. Concrete or masonry walls with wide footing. 

b. Should extend below maximum freezing line. 

c. Wall inclosing basement should be made waterproof 
and damp proof. 

6. Walls: 

a. Walls of hard brick laid in cement mortar, re-inforced 
concrete, masonry, hollow tile or wood. 

b. Outer walls of masonry buildings should be furred. 

c. If built of wood, fire stops of metal, asbestos or brick 
should be inserted to prevent rapid spread of fire 
through building. 

7. Entrances : 

a. Number : 

(1) One or two teacher-building, one or more en- 
trances, 6 to 8 feet in width with porch reached 

.199 



by concrete steps, 6-inch risers, 12-inch non- 
slip treads. 

(2) Three or four teacher-building, should have 
at least two entrances. 

(3) Outside entrance to heating system, if located 
in basement. 

(4) Community room, if located in basement, 
should have convenient outside entrance, al- 
lowing use of room during school hours with- 
out disturbing school activities. 

b. All entrances should be kept free from outside 
obstructions. 
■ c. Doors : 

(1) Two pairs of double doors opening outward, 
substantial but not so heavy as to be out of 
proportion to the strength of small children 
who will open them. 

(2) Should be provided with panic bolts, checks, 
and provisions for holding open. 

(3) Size: Zy.iy2 to 8 feet. 

8. Aesthetic Balance : 

a. Symmetrical and pleasing in effect without ornamenta- 
tion which does not contribute to strength or utility. 

9. Condition — Painted and in good repair. 

Internal Structure: ,, 

1. Stairways, vestibules and corridors : 

a. Stairways : 

(1) Constructed of fireproof material. 

(2) Width Ay2 to 5 feet, 12-inch treads, 6-inch 
risers. 

(3) Landings^should equal in width the length, of 
the treads. 

(4) Lighting — natural, as well as artificial, light 
should be provided in adequate amount. 

(5) Storage rooms located under stairways will 
not be approved. 

Optionals: 

(1) When leading to part of basement containing 
heating apparatus, should be closed off at base 
by fireproof doors. 

(2) Sanitation — Where angles and corners would 
otherwise occur in stairway construction, the 
plans should provide for concaved surfaces 
(coves), thus preventing the accumulation of 
dust, dirt and germ-carrying filth in places in- 
accessible to brooms and brushes. 

b. Vestibules : 

(1) 8 to 12 feet wide. 

(2) So arranged as to serve as storm door en- 
trance, preventing cold drafts of air enter- 
ing school room or corridor when outer doors 
are opened; should not be used as cloak room. 

Optional: Metal foot scraper mat flush with floor in 
vestibule. 

200 



c. Corridors — Essential to 3 and 4 room plan : 

(1) Should provide easy access to class rooms and 
exits with least possibility of congestion. 

(2) Construction: 

(a) Material : Hard maple or hard pine or 
battleship linoleum glued on wood floor. 

Optional: Cement overlaid with battleship linoleum. 

(b) Width: 7 to 10 feet. 

(c) Doors : All class room and special room 
doors should open into corridor ; glazed 
in upper portion. 

(d) Lighting: Adequate natural light, sun- 
shine if possible, with provision for arti- 
ficial lighting. 

(e) Heating: Should be as well heated as 
other parts of building. 

Optional: Sanitation : All intersecting surfaces 
should show cove finish, preventing ac- 
cumulation of dust and dirt. 

(3) Should be free from projections or obstruc- 
tions. 

Optional: Pleasing effect: Should be made attrac- 
tive by furnishing with pictures, friezes, 
busts, plants and the like. 

2. Basement : 

a. Depth below grade : except for heating plant and fuel 
room, basement should not extend more than 3^ feet 
below grade. 

b. Heating plant and fuel room should be separated from 
rest of basement by fireproof masonry walls and fire- 
proof ceiling, with self-closing fire doors. 

c. Floors and walls should be damp proof. 

3. Color Scheme. See Class Rooms. 

4. Roof Space : Properly ventilated. 

Optional: This type of building may be built without basement 
if desired. 



in. SERVICE SYSTEMS. 

A. Heating and Ventilating: 

1. ^Definitions : Kinds of Systems : 

a. Direct heating : Direct heating is provided where stoves 
or steam radiators in the class room furnish the neces- 
sary heat. 

b. Indirect heating : Where heat radiating apparatus is 
not located in the room to be warmed but in the base- 
ment or some other portion of the building. 

c. Combined : A combination of direct and indirect heat- 
ing is often utilized in the heating of school buildings. 

d. Natural system of ventilation : Dependence for ven- 
tilation placed upon the use of windows. 

e. Gravity system of ventilation : The gravity system of 
ventilation involves indirect heating, with a vent stack 

201 



for the passage of foul air, having the opening at the 
school room floor. Fresh air is taken from without 
the building and passed over the source of heat before 
entering the school room. Provision may be made for 
the acceleration of the foul air by maintaining a source 
of heat in the foul air duct, 
f. Forced ventilation : A fan forces the fresh air over 
radiators into the supply ducts and thus into the c!ass 
room. 

'2. Installation and Distribution : 

a. Warm air furnace or steam heating plant located in 
fireproof enclosure in basement. All exposed air ducts 
and steam lines well insulated. 

b. When steam is used, radiators located under class 
room windows, bracketed to wall — no legs or sup- 
ports resting on floor — 5 inches from floor, 3 inches 
from wall. 

c. Warm air inlets 8 feet from floor, individual ducts 
leading from source of heat to each outlet. Ventiduct 
opening off floor level. Both openings without gratings. 

3. Air Supply: 

a. Supply 1800 to 2000 cubic feet of air per hour to each 
child in the class room. 

b. Maintain temperature of 65 to 68 degrees F on cold- 
est days without recirculation of air by reprehensible 
practice of closing dampers in ventiducts and exhausts. 

4. Temperature Control : Automatic where system permits. 
Thermometer located on breathing plane of children. 

B. Fire Protection System : 

1. Apparatus : 

a. Small hand fire extinguishers easily accessible from 
any part of the building. Should be one in each school 
room and one near heating plant. 

2. Fireproof ness : Desirable from standpoint of security and 
durability of structure. Not essential to safety of occu- 
pants if exits are well planned. Door leading to furnace 
room should be fireproof and self-closing. Furnace room 
should be fireproof. 

3. Exits : No part of building, including basement, should be 
without direct and unobstructed passage to outside of 
building. 

4. Light installation: Electric wiring and lighting fixtures in- 
stalled in accordance with the latest rules of the National 
Board of Fire Underwriters. Inspection and certificate of 
approval by underwriters required. Acetylene, gas or gaso- 
line tanks located below surface at safe distance from build- 
ing, with connections that meet underwriters' standards. 

C. Cleaning System : Kind and Equipment : 

1. Oil brushes, cleaning compound and dust cloths. Corn 
brooms and feather dusters should be excluded for clean- 
ing purposes. 

Option: Portable vacuum cleaner. 
202 



2. Efficiency: All parts of building and equipment should be 
neat and sanitary. All cleaning should be done outside of 
school hours. 

D. Artificial Lighting Systems : 

1. Kind : Electricity or Gas. 

2. Outlets and fixtures : 6 to 9 per class room ; special attention 
to lighting of auditorium or community room. 

3. Standard illumination : 9-foot candles at each desk with no 
glare, shadows or light in direct line of vision. 

4. Electric generator for light where no public electric serv- 
ice exists. 

E. Schedule and Emergency Equipment: 

1. Clock for each class room. 

2. Electric gong desirable. Hand bell or belfry signals allow- 
able as substitutes. 

3. Telephone connection. 

4. First aid case with complete emergency equipment available 
in case of minor accidents. 

F. Water Supply System : 

Source of water: (a) Community water system; deep drilled, 
bored or driven wells precluding possibility of surface drain- 
age or contamination. Dug wells or springs not acceptable, 
(b) Water periodically tested by State College. 

Optional: Connections — Building should be equipped with 
pressure tank, gasoline or motor driven pump and complete 
water supply piping and fixtures. 

1. Drinking: 

a. One automatic bubbling fountain of type preventing 
mouth coming in contact with bubbler for each fifty 
pupils. 

b. Should be located in corridor with provision for easy 
use by small children. 

c. Drinking facilities should never be placed in toilet 
rooms. 

d. Individual drinking cups required where drinking 
fountains are not installed. 

2. Washing: Wash bowls adapted to height of children, in 
toilet rooms and work rooms. 

Sinks : Should be located in work rooms, basement and 
janitor's closet. 

3. Soap and Towels : Liquid soap and paper towels furnished. 



(1) Hot and cold water supplied to above wash- 
ing facilities. 

(2) Bathing: Provision for shower bath in school 
buildings : 

(3) Separate hot-water heater. 

Toilet System : 

1. All toikts placed inside of buildings on same floor as class 
rooms. Separate toilets provided for teachers. 

Optional: Separate toilet may be provided for janitors. 

2. Fixtures : 

203 



a. Porcelain seats of open type with individual flush. 
Height adapted to children. 

b. Boys' individual urinals of porcelain. 

3. Sewage disposal plant with septic tank and filtration field, or 
chemical toilet, or sewer connection. 

4. Adequacy : One seat for each 25 boys or fraction thereof ; 
one urinal for each 15 boys; one seat for each IS girls. 

5. Seclusion, Sanitation and Condition : 

a. Seclusion : Non-communicating, sound-proof walls be- 
tween adjoining rooms provided for the two sexes. 
Entrances to toilet rooms well screened. Stalls with 
light swinging doors for each seat. 

b. Sanitation and condition : Light, airy rooms ; sunshine 
desirable. Separate duct for ventilating purposes ; ex- 
posed plumbing, non-absorbent floors and walls. All 
interior walls finished in moisture-proof cement painted 
white, capable of being washed. No demarkation or 
defacements permitted to remain in any toilet rooms. 

IV. CLASS ROOMS. 

A. Arrangement : 

Easy of access to exits. Minimum of congestion in passing to 
and from rooms. 

B. Construction and Finish : 

1. Size : 

a. 18 sq. ft. of floor space and 200 cu. ft. of air space 
per pupil as minima. 

b. 22x28x12, seating 30 pupils. 
24x32x12, seating 40 pupils. 

2. Rectangular : Seated on the long axis. 

3. Floors : Hardwood. 

Optional: Wood overlaid with battleship linoleum. 

4. Walls and Ceiling : Standard-hard, smooth, non-gloss finish 
plaster. Picture mold and wall space for pictures, maps 
and the like should be provided. 

5. Doors : Substantial but not heavy, 3 ft. x 7 ft. opening out- 
ward. No raised thresholds across door openings. 

6. Closets or closed cases : At least one in each class room 
providing space for supplies, books, globes, etc. 

7. Blackboards : 

(a). High grade slate, 4 ft. wide, mounted with firm back- 
ing, perfectly butted and shaved joints. Height from floor 
should vary with age of children. For lower grades 24 
inches, upper grades 32 to 36 inches. Should run full length 
of front wall and wall opposite windows. No blackboard 
should be placed on window wall, 
(b). Bulletin boards. 

8. Color scheme: Walls light buff, light green or light gray; 
ceiHngs white or very light cream. Woodwork and furni- 
ture to harmonize in tone in dull finish. 

204 



C. Illumination : 

1. Glass area equal to 1/5 to 1/4 of floor area. 

2. Window placement: Unilateral from pupils' left, banked as 
closely as construction will permit, extending from rear of 
room to within 7 ft. of front wall. Sill of window from 3 to 
4 ft. from floor and top as near ceiling as possible. MuUions 
not more than ten inches in width. 

3. Shades: Double mounted at center of window or adjust- 
able, one pulling each way; light tan or straw color; in good 
condition and repair. 

D. Cloakrooms AND Wardrobes : 

Ample space for winter wraps for full capacity of class room. 
Rack for umbrellas. Adequate heat and independent foul air 
vent. Separate from corridors and class rooms. Hooks or 
hangers in cloakrooms placed at heights to conform to the size 
of children expected to use for the class rooms for which cloak- 
rooms are provided. Adequate shelving should be provided in 
cloakrooms for children's lunch boxes. 

E. Equipment : 

1. Seats and desks: Should be individual, adjustable, and 
adjusted. 

Optional: Movable chairs are preferable to screwed-down seats. 

2. Teachers' desks: Substantial, attractive, adequate to needs, 
not mounted on platform. 

3. Other equipment: Maps, globes, stereopticon, books, pic- 
tures, phonograph, etc. 

V. SPECIAL ROOMS. 

A. Rooms for General Use: 

1. Play room: Basement, space of class room size or greater. 
One each for boys and girls. Movable furniture. 

2. Community room: Provided in basement (space otherwise 
used as play room). Must have convenient outside entrance. 
Class room and adjoining spaces for household and indus- 
trial arts may be used for community purposes where mov- 
able furniture is installed. 

3. Library: Not less than 80 sq. ft. for one teacher school 
and increasing in size with the number of teachers and 
pupils. Book shelves, library tables and chairs. Well se- 
lected books. Well lighted and attractive. Teacher control. 

4. Lunch room : Tables, chairs, and provision for serving hot 
lunches or supplementing children's lunch with hot soup, 
cocoa and the like. 

B. School Officials' Consultation Room: General purpose; room 

to serve as teachers' room, visiting nurses' quarters, school board 
meetings, and private conferences of teachers with pupils, par- 
ents, and school officials. 

C. Outer Special Rooms : 

L Industrial Arts space with benches, tools, stock rack and 
lockers. Teacher control from class room. 

205 



2. Household Arts space equipped for teaching cookery and sew- 
ing. Teacher control from class room. 

3. Fuel Room : Inside building convenient to heating apparatus. 
D'ustproof and capable of being closed off from class room 
or heating room. 

Optional: Fireproof ash bin in basement in lieu of ash cans. 

In the table which is given below there appears a number of 
school buildings, with the score assigned to each, within a range of 
50 points. The number of buildings receiving such scores is given 
for each of the three counties of the State and for the State as a 
whole. 



TABLE I 



Total 
1000 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 49 


3 

16 

19 

14 

11 

9 

3 

2 

1 


2 

24 

24 

16 

7 

1 

1 


1 

6 

16 

32 

47 

19 

13 

5 

1 





50- 99 


1 


100- 149 


6 


150- 199 


21 


200- 249 


72 


250- 299 


90 


300- 349 


49 


350- 399 


31 


400- 449 


IS 


450- 499 


5 


500- 549 


2 


550- 599 





600- 649 





650- 699 


1 


700- 749 





750- 799 





800- 849 





850- 899 





900- 949 





950-1000 









Total 


78 


75 


140 


293 






25 Percentile 


250.31 
302.56 
378.55 


233.89 
272.96 
318.52 


217.75 
264.95 
306.89 


230.77 


Median 


275.00 


75 Percentile 


329.35 







This table reads as follows, beginning on the fourth line from 
the top and reading under the heading New Castle County: Three 
school buildings were rated between 150 and 199 points. Still read- 
ing across the table horizontally, two buildings in Kent County were 
rated between 150 and 199 points. When we come to Sussex County 
we find in the column of figures given that one building rated 



206 



between 50 and 99 points; that six buildings (reading down the 
column) rated from 100 to 149 points and sixteen buildings from 
150 to 199 points. Any other line or column of the table may be 
read in the same manner. 

The summary of this table is given below it, expressed in 25 
percentile, median and 75 percentile. The 25 percentile is the point 
on the scale of 1000 points below which 25 per cent, of the buildings 
fall. The median is the point on the scale below which 50 per cent, 
of the buildings fall and above which 50 per cent, of the buildings 
are found. The 75 percentile is the point on the scale above which 
25 per cent, of the buildings score and below which 75 per cent, of 
them score. 

For the whole State it will be observed that one-half of the 
school buildings were scored below 275 points and half of them 
above that score ; that one-quarter of the buildings were scored below 
230 points and that one-quarter of the above buildings were scored 
above 329 points. 

It is not necessary to comment to any extent upon these scores. 



TABLE II 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

WHITE CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

SCHOOL SITE 



(Site— 

160) 1 


New 
Castle' 


Kent 


bussex 


State 


0- 9 


2 

1 

6 

8 

9 

13 

14 

12 

9 

3 

1 


1 

5 

4 

10 

22 

12 

8 

6 

2 

3 



2 


2 

6 - 
13 
14 
22 
2>?> 
16 
19 
11 

2 

2 






10- 19 


2 


20-29 


7 


30-39 


20 


40-49 


19 


50-59 


38 


60-69 


63 


70-79 


2,7 


80-89 


40 


90-99 


31 


100-109 


16 


110-119 


14 


120-129 


3 


130-139 


3 


140-149 





150-160 





Total 


78 


75 


140 


293 


25 Percentile 


71.50 

87.83 

103.75 


57.75 
66.95 
81.81 


49.00 
62.94 
78.38 


55.32 


Median 


66.00 


75 Percentile 


86.75 



207 



It is evident that if one accepts the standards proposed, these one to 
four teacher schools do not, except in three cases, reach even a mini- 
mum of 500 points on the scale, and they are, therefore, in the judg- 
ment of those making the investigation, fit only for some use other 
than that for which they are nov\r designated. Delaware needs to re- 
build her rural school buildings. 

In order to indicate clearly the basis upon which the gross score 
was arrived at, the five more important items for which buildings 
were scored appear in the tables which follow, for each of the three 
counties and for the State, and are read as was Table I. 

160 of 1000 points are allowed for the School Site. In the State 
of Delaware half of the buildings were scored below 66 points. 
Three-quarters of them were scored below 86 points, which is just 
over half of the total points allowed where adequate sites are pro- 
vided. 

For the gross structure of the building, 200 points are allowed 
out of a total of 1000 for the type of building scored. 



TABLE III 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

WHITE CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

GROSS STRUCTURE OF BUILDING 



(Building — 
200) 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 

10-19 

20-29 


3 
5 

14 

13 

10 

12 

8 

3 

3 

3 

2 

1 

1 


1 
3 

10 
17 
16 
19 
2 
5 

2 


3 

3 

15 

23 

28' 

31 

19 

5 

1 

9 

1 

2 


3 
4 


30-39 


21 


40-49'*..... 


38 


50-59 


59 


60-69 


60 


70- 79 


48 


80-89 


19 


90-99 


14 


100-109" 


12 


110-119 ... 


6 


120-129 


5 


130-139 


2 


140-149 


1 


150-159 




160-169 


1 


170-179 




180-189 




190-200 




Total 


78 


75 


140 


293 


25 Percentile 


57.04 
73.50 
91,20 


51.80 
63.07 
73.89 


45.09 
58.29 
70.05 


50.23 


Median 


62.66 


75 Percentile 


76.09 







208 



It will be observed that out of the 293 buildings scored, half of 
them were given less than 63 points out of a possible 200; that one- 
quarter were scored below 50 points out of 200, and that only one- 
quarter of the buildings were scored as worthy of more than 76 
points out of 200. 

The efficiency of the school building depends in large measure 
upon the provision which is made for the comfort and health of 
school children. Buildings were scored under the general head 
Service Systems for heating and ventilation, fire protection, cleaning 
systems, water supply, schedule and program equipment and toilet 
facilities. A total of 2'50 points out of 1000 is allowed on the score 
card for rural school buildings for Service Systems. 



TABLE IV 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

WHITE CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

SERVICE SYSTEMS 



(Ser. Systems — 
250) 


New- 
Castle 


Kent 


bussex 


State 


0- 9 


1 

4 

22 

18 

11 

8 

5 

4 

1 

3 

1 


2 

8 

11 

17 

21 

10 

4 

2 


1 
11 

18 
23 
22 
42 
16 
5 
2 




10-19 


2 


20-29 


17 


30-39 


48 


40-49 


52 


50-59 

60-69 


50 
71 


70-79 


31 


80-89 


13 


90- 99 


5 


100-109 


3 


110-119 




120-129 




. 130-139 




140-149 




150-159 




160-169 




170-179 




180-189 




190-199 


1 


200-209 




210-219 




220-229 




230 239 




240-250 








Total 


7S 


75 


140 


293 


25 Percentile 


35.31 
45.18 
61.91 


1 46.95 
5S.70 
67.70 


41.18 
56.73 
66.14 


40.18 


Median 


54.50 


75 Pencentile 


66.24 







209 



In the State of Delaware, out of a possible 250 points 50 per 
cent, of the buildings were scored below 54 points ; one-quarter of 
the buildings were scored below 40 points, and only one-quarter of 
the buildings scored above 66 points out of the 250 points allowed. 

It is clear from these scores that on these main items the build- 
ings for the one to four teacher schools for white children are miser- 
ably inadequate. 

The space devoted to class room use is allotted a total of 225 
points out of 1000. Under this head are included the size and form 
of the class room, its floor, walls, ceiling and their condition, the 
lighting of the room, the furniture, the cloak room and wardrobes 
adjacent or included in the room, structure of blackboards, pictures 
and teaching equipment. 



TABLE V 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

WHITE CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

CLASS ROOMS 



(Class Room — 
225) 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 

10-19 

20-29 


3 
8 
8 
8 

13 
7 
6 

10 
5 
3 
4 

2 
1 


10 

13 

16 

18 

10 

5 

2 

1 


1 
3 

12 

13 

19 

23 

38 

13 

4 

5 

5 

2 

1 

1 




30-39 

40-49 

50-59 


1 

3 

13 


60-69 


31 


70-79 


40 


80-89 


47 


90-99 

100 109 


69 

30 


110-119 


15 


120-129 


17 


130-139 


11 


140-149 


5 


150-160 


5 


160-169 


1 


170 179 


2 


180-189 


1 


190 199 




200-209 




210-219 




220-225 








Total 


78 


75 


140 


293 






25 Percentile 


79.36 

99.83 

125.75 


75.76 
88.06 
9S.59 


72.15 
88.60 
98.00 


74 75 


Median 


90.34 


75 Percentile 


103.82 







210 



For the State, one-half of the schools were scored as to Class 
Rooms less than 90 points out of a possible 225 ; one-quarter of the 
buildings were scored less than 74 points, and only one-quarter of 
the buildings were scored above 103 out of a possible 225 points. As 
has already been indicated in the general discussion, class rooms in 
these schools are poorly conceived, improperly lighted and relatively 
unequipped. 

In order to conduct a modern school, rooms other than the 
class rooms must be provided. On the score card for rural school 
buildings 165 points are allowed for Special Rooms, under which are 
classified play room, community room, nurse roomi, library, lunch 
room, space for industrial and household arts and fuel room. These 
facilities are allowed 165 points out of the 1000 which make up the 
total score. 



TABLE VI 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

WHITE CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

SPECIAL ROOMS 



Spec. Rms. 
165 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 





5 
11 
26 
17 
10 

2 

1 

1 

1 
1 


14 

7 

24 

18 

1 

9 


14 
9 

53 

57 

2 

1 
2 

1 
1 


33 


1 


27 


2 

3 


103 
92 


4 


13 


5 


11 


6 


1 


7 

8 


2 


9 


1 


10 




11 




12 


2 


13 




14 




15 




16 




17 




18 




19 




20 




21 

22 


t 


23 


2 


24 




25 





211 



TABLE VI-(CONTINUED) 



Spec. Ems. 
165" 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


26 


1 

1 
1 


1 
1 






27 




28 


1 


29 




30 ,. 


1 


31 




32 




33 




34 




35 




36 




37 




38 




39 




40 




41 




42 




43 '. 




44 


1 


45 


2 


* 




* 




160 




Total 


78 


75 


140 


293 


25 Percentile 


1.14 
1.90 
3.07 


.68 
1.70 

2.62 


1.23 

1.8S 
2.50 


1.12 




1 84 


75 Percentile 


2.60 



It will be observed in glancing at the table of Special Rooms 
that a very minimum of such equipment has been provided for these 
schools. Tn this table there are only 14 buildings out of the 293 
rural schools for white children scored that received more than 5 
points out of the possible 165. The highest scores allowed were to 
two buildings, each of which received 45 points out of the pos- 
sible 165. 

Some of the factors upon which the scores depend appear in 
Table VII. 

It will be observed that in Table VII some of the more interest- 
ing facts concerning rural schools are given for the total number of 
buildings scored and reduced to percentages. For example, reading 
the first line, there were in New Castle County twenty-nine build- 
ings located on triangular or irregular sites. This is 40.2 per cent, 
of the total number of buildings found in the county. Dropping 
down to the third item in the table, there were in New Castle County 



212 





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213 



forty-six buildings with no water supply. This is 58.3 per cent, of 
the total number of buildings in the county. Reading the third line 
from the bottom, in the one to four teacher schools for white children 
in Delaware there were no facilities provided in any of the counties 
for the teaching of the households arts ; and so may any other line 
of the table be read. 

A similar set of tables were prepared on the basis of the scores 
given to the schools for colored children. These tables are read just 
as the tables already discussed that give the scores for the schools 
for white children. They follow in order and are easily capable of 
interpretation by any one who cares to know the facts. 

One may summarize the situation by saying that in every 
respect the schools for colored children are somewhat less adequate 
than those provided for white children. 



TABLE VIII 

ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR COLORED CHILDREN 



Total Score 
1000 Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 49 


1 
5 
9 
6 
1 
1 

1 


3 

17 
7 

1 
2 

1 


1 
8 
9 

7 
5 
4 




50- 99 


1 


100- 149 


12 


150- 199 


31 


200- 249 


23 


250- 299 


12 


300- 349 


7 


350- 399 


1 


400- 449 




450- 499 


1 


500- 549 


1 


550- 599 




600- 649 




650- 699 




700- 749 




750- 799 




800- 849 




850- 899 




900- 949 




950-1000 








Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 






25 Percentile 


199.00 
232.33 
274.00 


162.25 
190.20 
216.69 


145.90 
193.44 
254.00 


164 30 


Median 


200 00 


75 Percentile 


249 00 







214 



TABLE IX 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 
COLORED CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO SCHOOL SITE 



School Site 


New 








160 


Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


1 






1 


10 19 


2 


2 




4 


20-29 


3 




4 


7 


30-39 


4 


6 


6 


16 


40-49 


2 


7 


5 


14 


50-59 


2 


7 


8 


17 


60-69 


1 


3 


3 


7 


70-79 


6 


5 


4 


15 


80-89 


1 




3 


4 


90-99 


1 






1 


100-109 


1 


1 


1 


1 


110 119 




120 129 : 


2 


130-139 




140-149 




150-160 








Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 


25 Percentile 


29.00 


38.50 


35.60 


36.00 


Median 


49.00 
74.00 


50.71 
59.83 


51.50 
57.33 


50.40 


75 Percentile 


69.00 







TABLE X 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

COLORED CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO GROSS 

STRUCTURE OF BUILDING 



Building 
200 Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


1 
1 
4 
5 
6 
2 
3 
1 

1 


1 

2 

9 
8 
8 

1 

1 
1 


3 
4 
10 

6 
4 

1 
3 
2 
1 


1 


10- 19 


5 


20-29 

30-39 : . . . 


5 
20 


40-49 

50-59 


18 
17 


60-69 

70-79 


7 
6 


80-89 


5 . 


90-99 


2 


100-109 




110-119 


1 


120-129 


1 


130-139 


1 


140-149 :.... 




150-159 




160-169 




170-179 




180-189 




190-200 








Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 






25 Percentile 


49.00 
60.66 
74.00 


34.28 
43.38 
51.50 


30.50 
39.00 
45.33 


34.00 


Median 


46.50 


75 Percentile 


60.00 







215 



TABLE XI 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

COLORED CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

SERVICE SYSTEMS 



Ser. Systems 
250 Points 


New- 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 

10-19 


2 
7 
1 
2 
7 
1 
4 


3 

19 
4 
2 

2 
1 


3 
6 
3 
12 
4 
2 
3 
1 


3 
11 


20-29 


29 


30-39 


17 


40-49 


8 


50-59 


9 


60-69 


6 


70-79 


6 


80- 89 




90-99 




100-109 




110-119 




120-129 




130-139 




140-149 




150-159 




160 169 




170-179 




180-189 




190-199 




200 209 




210-219 




220-229 




230-239 




240-250 








Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 


25 Percentile 


24.71 
49.00 

57.58' 


21.50 

■ 25.60 

32.75 


18.17 
33.16 

45.25 


22 00 


Median 


29 33 


75 Percentile 


47 40 







TABLE XII 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

COLORED CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

CLASS ROOMS 



Class Rooms 


New 








225 Points 


Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 










10- 19 










20-29 






1 


1 


30-39 


2 




1 


3 


40-49 




2 


4 


6 


50 59 


1 


4 


7 


12 


60-69 


2 


8 


9 


19 


70-79 


5 


7 


3 


15 


80-89 


5 
5 


4 

5 


5 
3 


14 


90-99 


13 



216 



TABLE XII 


---fCONTINUED) 






Class Eooms 
225 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


100-109 


1 

1 
1 

1 


1 


' 1 


1 


110-119 


2 


120-129 


1 ■ 


130-139 




140-149 


1 


150-159 




160-169 


1 


170-179 




180-189 




190-199 




200-209 




210-219 




220-225 




Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 


25 Percentile 


71.00 
83.00 
95.00 


60.88 
71.14 
82.13 


51.57 
63.44 
S'0.00 


61 00 


Median 

75 Percentile 


71.50 
87 00 







TABLE XIII 

SCORES FOR ONE TO FOUR -TEACHER SCHOOLS FOR 

COLORED CHILDREN WITH RESPECT TO 

SPECIAL ROOMS 



Special Rooms 
165 Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


9 
5 
4 
1 
2 
3 


21 
4 
4 
2 


18 
1 
9 
6 


48 


10- 19 


10 


20-29 


17 


30-39 


9 


40-49 


2 


50-59 

60-69 


3 


70-79 ■ 

80-89 




90-99 




100-109 




110-119 




120-129 

130-139 




140-149 




150-159 




160-165 








Total 


24 


31 


34 


89 



In the State of Delaware, outside of the city of Wilmington, 
there are 29 school buildings provided for white children in which 
more than 4 teachers are employed. In scoring these buildings a 



217 



score card was used which differed only in sHght degree from that 
employed in scoring the one to four teacher schools. The differences 
between these two types of score cards consist largely in variations 
in construction and additions in equipment and special room facili- 
ties which are obviously necessary for the development of the larger 
school plants. 

In Table XIV these 29 buildings are arranged according to their 
rank and according to the 50-point group of the 1000 points on the 
score card under which each one of these buildings falls. 

TABLE XIV 

SCORES FOR CITY SCHOOL BUILDINGS OF MORE 
THAN FOUR TEACHERS 

(Arranged in order of rank) 

School Buildings 
Scoring : 

850 to 900 Points Alex I. du Pont 

800 to 849 " Caesar Rodney 

750 to 799 " (None) 

700 to 749 " " 

650 to 699 " " 

600 to 649 " Harrington 

550 to 599 " Bridgeville 

500 to 549 " Greenwood 

450 to 499 " Frederica ; Mt-. Pleasant 

400 to 449 " (None) 

350 to 399 " Rehoboth ; Newark Grammar ; Dover 

300 to 349 " Selbyville, Milford, Lewes, Milton, George- 
town, Smyrna, Middletown, New Castle 
Elementary, Seaford, Delaware City. 

250 to 299 " Felton, Laurel, Delmar 

200 to 249 " Newark Academy, Millsboro, Frankf ord ; 

150 to 199 " Clayton, New Castle Academy, Dagsboro. 

It will be noted that five of these larger school buildings have 
been rated by the judges above 500 points. These buildings are the 
Alex I. du Pont, Caesar Rodney, Harrington, Bridgeville and Green- 
wood Schools. All of the other twenty-four buildings of this group 
have been scored by the judges below 500 points, and it is recom- 
mended that all of these twenty-four buildings be replaced at the 
earliest possible moment with a school building which conforms to 
the standards outlined in the detailed score card which precedes. 

The summaries of the scores allotted to these buildings are given 
in Tables XV to XX, inclusive. These tables are to be read in the 
same manner as the tables preceding. 

218 



TABLE XV 

SUMMARY OF FINAL SCORES OF SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN 
WHICH MORE THAN FOUR TEACHERS TEACH 



Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 49 

50- 99 


1 
1 

3 
1 

1 
1 


1 

1 

2 

1 

1 
1 

1 


1 
2 
2 

5 
1 

1 

1 




100- 149 

150- 199 

200- 249 


3 
3 


250- 299 

300- 349 


3 
10 


350- 399 


3 


400 449 




450- 499 

500- 549 


2 
1 


550- 599 

600- 649 

650- 699 


1 
1 


700- 749 




750-799 

800- 849 


1 


850- 899 

900-949 . . . ; 


1 


950-1000 








Total 


8 


8 


13 


29 


25 Percentile 


250 
333 
350 


300 
350 
600 


258 
315 

347 


271 


Median 


327 


75 Percentile 


396 







TABLE XVI 

SCORES ALLOWED ON SCHOOL SITES FOR CITY SCHOOL 

BUILDINGS IN WHICH MORE THAN FOUR 

TEACHERS TEACH 

(Possible Maximum Number of Points — 125) 



Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


2 
3 

3 ' 


1 

2 

1 
2 

2 


1 
2 
1 
1 
1 
2 
3 
2 




10- 19 

20-29 

30-39 

40-49 


1 


50-59 

60-69 

70-79 

80- 89 


3 

1 
5 
4 


90-99 

100-109 


3 

5 


110-119 


5 


120-125 


2 






Total 


8 


8 


13 


29 


Median 


86 


100 


93 


92 







219 



TABLE XVII 

SCORES ALLOWED ON GROSS STRUCTURE OF BUILDINGS 

FOR CITY SCHOOL BUILDINGS IN WHICH MORE 

THAN FOUR TEACHERS TEACH 



(Possible Maximum Number of Points — 165) 



Points 


New- 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


1 

2 
2 

1 
1 

1 


1 
2 
1 

1 

1 

1 
1 


1 
5 

2 
2 

1 

1 

1 




10- 19 


2 


20-29 




30-39 

40-49 

50- 59 


8 
4 
1 


60-69 


4 


. 70-79 

80-89 


2 


90-99 


2 


100-109 


1 


110-119 


1 


120-129 


2 


130-139 


1 


140-149 


1 


150-159 




160-165 








Total 


8 


8 


13 


29 






Median 


45 


60 


63 


55 







TABLE XVIII 

SCORES ALLOWED ON SERVICE SYSTEMS FOR CITY SCHOOL 

BUILDINGS IN WHICH MORE THAN FOUR 

TEACHERS TEACH 

(Possible Maximum Number of Points — 280) 



Points 




Sussex 



State 



0- 9 

10- 19 

20- 29 

30- 39 

40- 49 

50- 59 

60- 69 

70- 79 

80- 89 

90- 99 

100-109 

110-119 

120-129 



220 



TABLE XVIII---(CONTINUED) 



Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


130-139 


1 


1 






140-149 




150-159 




160-169 




170-179 




180-189 


1 


190-199 




200 209 




210-219 




220-229 




230 239 




240-249 


1 


250-259 




260-269 




270-280 








Total 


8 


8 


13 


29 


Median 


63 


73 


55 


63 







TABLE XIX 

SCORES ALLOWED ON CLASS ROOMS FOR CITY SCHOOL 

BUILDINGS IN WHICH MORE THAN FOUR 

TEACHERS TEACH 

(Possible Maximum Number of Points — 290) 



Points 


New 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


40-49 


1 

1 

1 
1 

1 

1 

1 

1 


1 

1 
2 
1 

1 

1 

1 


1 
1 
1 
2 
1 

4 

1 
1 

1 


1 


50- 59 


1 


60-69 


2 


70- 79 


1 


80-89 


3 


90-99 


5 


100-109 


2 


110-119 




120-129 


4 


130-139 


1 


140-149 




150-159 




160-169 


2 


170-179 




180-189 


2 


190 199 


1 


200-209 




210-219 


2 


220-229 




230-239 




240-249 




250-259 


1 


260-269 


1 


270-279 




280-290 








Total 


8 


8 


13 


29 







Median 



120 



100 



121 



108 



221 



TABLE XX 

SCORES ALLOWED ON SPECIAL ROOMS FOR CITY SCHOOL 
BUILDINGS IN WHICH MORE THAN FOUR TEACHERS TEACH 

(Possible Maximum Number of Points — 140) 



Points 


New- 
Castle 


Kent 


Sussex 


State 


0- 9 


4 
3 

1 


3 
2 

1 
1 

1 


5 
7 
1 


12 


10- 19 


12 


20-29 

30-39 

40-49 

50- 59 


1 

1 
1 


60-69 

70-79 




80-89 


1 


90-99 

100-109 


1 


110-119 




120-129 




130-140 








Totals 


8 


8 


13 


29 


Median 


10 


15 


12 


12 







222 



l£Fe'20 



COMPLETE LIST OF SCHOOLS SCORING ABOVE FOUR HUN 





1 

Site— 160 


DisT. 1 New Castle County 


B 

13 

u 


■(3 

u 


w6 


"o 
Ph 
bo 

E 


No 


Name of School 


A 


B 


c 


D 




Perfect Building 


65 
50 
60 
55 
50 
25 
55 
65 
60 
40 
40 
55 
70 
70 
60 
60 
50 
50 
60 


40 
35 
35 
30 
25 
30 
35 
35 
30 
27 
30 
30 
35 
35 
35 
20 
28 
30 
40 


45 

35 

20 

5 

5 

10 

10 

3 

10 

7 

10 

3 

2 

2 

15 

12 

40 

35 

20 


1( 


130 


Oak Grove 


1< 


21,97 


Newport 




80,81^,81^ 
1 


Townsend 




Claymont 


V 




New School 


( 


6 


Eight Square 


1( 


7 


Sharpley 


11 


29 


Hockessin 




33 


Brandywine Springs 


( 


34 


Mt. Pleasant 




47 


Rose Hill 


( 


49 


State Road 




51 


Franklin 




58 


Howell 


1i 


77, 99, 99^ 


Marshallton 


11 


23,75 


*A. I. Dupont 




2 


*Mt Pleasant 




120 


fMiddletown 


1 








Kent County 










73 


Millwood 


65 
40 

55 
55 
55 


40 
25 
30 
23 
30 


30 
15 

40 
30 
40 




112 


Viola 


c 


Con. No. 1 

32, 75, 76, 78 

94, etc. 


*Caesar Rodney 

*Frederica 

*Harrington 










Sussex County 




1 




4,127 
56 


Slaughter Neck 


35 
50 
45 
50 

55 
55 
55 
45 


25 
20 
27 
30 
30 
35 
30 
25 


1 

15 
2 
8 
20 
20 
20 
30 


t 


Morgan's 


f 


117 
136 


Cedar Grove 

Reynold's 


i 
f 


138 


Wesley 


[ 


138^ 


Cannon 


' 


90, etc. 


*Bridgeville 




91, etc. 


*Greenwood 











Note. — All schools not otherwise indicated, 



COMPLETE LIST OF SCHOOLS SCORING ABOVE FOUR HUNDRED 



TABLE XXI 
POINTS OUT OF A POSSIBLE ONE THOUSAND ALLOTTED ON THE SCORE CARD FOR THE SCHOOL BUILDINGS OF DELAWARE 



DisT. I New Castle County 
No I Name OF School 



130 

21,97 

80,81^4,81^ 

1 

6 
7 

29 

33 

34 

47 

49 

51 

58 

77, 99, 99^ 

23,75 

2 

120 I 



Perfect Building . . . 

Oak Grove 

Newport 

Townsend 

Claymont 

New School 

Eight Square 

Sharpley 

Hockessin 

Brandywine Springs 

Mt. Pleasant 

Rose Hill 

State Road 

Franklin 

Howell 

Marshallton 

*A. I. Dupont 

♦Mt. Pleasant 

tMiddletown 



Kent County 



73 

112 

Con. No. 1 

32, 75, 76, 78 

94, etc. I 



Millwood 

Viola 

♦Caesar Rodney 

♦Frederica 

♦Harrington . . . . 



I A I B I C I D I Tot. 



65 


40 


45 


10 


50 


35 


35 


10 


60 


35 


20 


7 


55 


30 


5 


5 


50 


25 


5 


10 


2.S 


30 


10 





55 


35 


10 


10 


65 


35 


3 


10 


60 


,30 


10 


3 


40 


27 


7 





40 


.30 


10 


5 


55 


.30 


3 


6 


70 


35 


2 


5 


70 


35 


2 


5 


60 


35 


15 


10 


60 


20 


12 


10 


50 


28 


40 




50 


30 


35 




60 


40 


20 


5 











65 


40 


30 


2 


40 


25 


15 


6 


55 


30 


40 




55 


23 


30 




55 


30 


40 





Sussex County 



4, 127 
56 
117 
136 
138 

138^ 

90, etc. 

91, etc. 



Slaughter Neck 

Morgan's 

Cedar Grove . . 

Reynold's 

Wesley 

Cannon 

♦Bridgeville .... 
♦Greenwood . . . . 



35 


25 


1 


5 


50 


20 


15 





45 


27 


2 


K 


,50 


30 


8 


8 


55 


.% 


20 


5 


55 


35 


20 


2 


55 


.10 


20 




45 


25 


30 





II 

Bldg.— 200 



A I B I C I Tot. 



40 


90 


70 


35 


90 


24 


25 


62 


.W 


35 


83 


43 


20 


84 


25 


27 


84 


18 


30 


45 


21 


25 


80 


33 


33 


34 


21 


27 


76 


28 


30 


70 


30 


.30 


52 


16 


30 


.58 


11 


30 


58 


11 


35 


71 


23 


30 


53 


22 


25 


54 


64 


25 


40 


28 


40 


75 


20 



200 
149 
126 
161 
129 
129 
96 
138 
88 
131 
130 
98 
99 
99 
129 
105 
143 
93 
135 



53 I 50 I 128 



71 


19 


70 


32 


55 


14 


57 


15 


70 





70 


15 


.54 


51 


54 


37 



III 

Service System — 250 



B I C I D I E 



20 


2.S 


20 


10 


14 


20 


8 


15 


16 


2 


19 





10 


11 


11 


14 


10 





5 


13 





9 


2 





7 


7 





7 


14 





7 


10 


5 


7 


10 


15 


7 


13 





7 


13 





7 


20 


5 


4 


10 


7 


48 


20 


16 


5 


12 


11 


10 


10 






25 1 





25 





2?. 


7 


12 





50 


25 


20 


16 


20 





10 





35 


7 


18 






7 


12 








15 





4 


12 


5 


7 


15 








20 


10 





18 


5 


17 


15 


6 


5 


12 


6 



F I G I Tot. 



60 I 250 
50 170 



1 


s 


11 


10 


10 


12 


18 


5 


17 


10 


20 


15 


15 


15 


35 


13 


34 



20 101 
50 102 



I I 



IV 
Class Rooms — 225 



(3£ 



A I B I C I D 



80 


60 


20 


62 


53 


10 


57 


42 


15 


60 


48 


15 


53 


45 


10 


70 


53 


15 


44 


37 


15 


56 


39 





55 


42 


15 


63 


51 


8 


30 


40 


10 


65 


46 


10 


56 


47 


5 


.56 


47 


5 


61 


40 


8 


44 


42 


12 


85 


75 


20 


64 


57 


5 


63 


52 


11 



225 
172 
15i 
173 
157 
183 
127 
125 
131 
146 
110 
146 
129 
129 
152 
128 
262 
168 
160 



I I 



40 
51 
85 
58 
70 1 



24 I 114 
1.32 



257 
190 
215 



3 


59 


45 


12 


24 


143 


7 


65 


50 


20 


25 


167 


7 


58 


41 


8 


18 


132 


7 


49 


43 


7 


25 


131 


8 


65 


35 





27 


135 


5 


51 


37 





22 


115 


30 


66 


70 


20 


26 


212 


25 


66 


67 





29 


187 



Sl'FriAl, KoOMS — 165 



A I B 



165 
44 
28 

45 
4 
1 
4 
3 

4 
4 
2 



45 
2 
102 
IS 
50 



Tot al for School 

1000 

665 

538 

530 
481 
4S0 
418 
4.1.1 
411 
441 
411 
4.19 
4(16 
4(K) 



851 
476 
500 



456 
428 



490 
646 



409 
442 
412 
411 
463 
423 
576 
509 



Note. All schools not otherwise indicated, one to four teacher schools ; schools marked (♦) more than four teacher schools ; schools marked (t) for colored children. 



il 


DRED 


POIlOOL 


BUILDINGS OF DELAWARE 








V 












iCIAL 


Room 


s— 165 












> 

<U 0) 










c 

V 


."' 


c«E 










E 


"rt - 


ro o 










<u 


"i 


■«« 










a 


m2 












E 


o« 


w.y 






» 


Tot. 


A 


B 


C 


Tot. 


Total for School 


r 


160 


40 


20 


65 


165 


1000 


} 


130 


35 





4 


44 


665 


7 


122 


25 





4 


28 


538 


5 


95 


35 








45 


536 


3 


90 


20 





4 


4 


481 


-) 


65 


27 





1 


1 


480 


J 


110 


30 





4 


4 


418 


3 


113 


25 





3 


3 


433 


"3 


103 


33 











411 


) 


74 


27 





4 


4 


441 


5 


85 


30 





4 


4 


411 


5 


94 


30 





2 


2 


439 


5 


112 


30 





4 


4 


406 


5 


112 


30 





4 


4 


406 


3 


120 


35 





2 


2 


481 


) 


102 


30 





4 


4 


411 




118 


25 


20 


30 


80 


851 


115 


25 





18 


18 


476 


5 125 


40 








5 


500 












2 137 


40 





5 


45 


456 


5 86 


30 





2 


2 


428 




125 


22 


20 


27 


102 


808 




108 


20 





5 


15 


490 


1 


125 


25 





20 


50 


646 
















5 


66 


32 








6 


409 


) 


85 


25 





3 


3 


442 


J 


82 


35 





3 


3 


412 


] 


96 


30 





3 


3 


411 


5 


110 


35 





3 


23 


463 


> 


112 


23 





3 


3 


423 




105 


20 


6 


5 


21 


576 




100 


20 





2 


14 


509 



one to four fen. 



